There's always more than one motive. Businesses with a positive approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) clearly want to do the right thing by their people and by the communities in which they operate. But that’s not to say that the glow of righteousness – or even of postive publicity – is the only pay-off for the CSR-conscious. There is also evidence that responsible businesses may have a head start when it comes to recruiting the best staff, according to some recent research.

In a survey by forum3, a recruitment and volunteering event for the not-for-profit sector, 95 per cent of 1,200 people questioned said that CSR was important when assessing a prospective employer, 96 per cent said that they would be more likely to accept a job from an organisation that has a proactive CSR policy and 58 per cent said that they would be more likely to leave a company that did not have one. And more than a third of 100 young adults aged 20-30 polled for BT said that working for a caring and responsible employer was more important to them than the salary. However, only 44 per cent said that they would discount an employer if it didn’t have a good reputation for corporate social responsibility. But it’s not a clear picture; a survey by Universum of 7,511 students found that they put less emphasis on CSR than on factors such as an organisation’s dynamism, innovation, products and management when researching potential employers.

Richard Summers, an associate director at Origin HR, a consultancy that runs the graduate programmes for several major investment banks, says that graduates research potential employers’ position on issues such as the environment before applying. “It certainly comes up in assessment centres,” he says. “It’s part of the assessment that candidates make of a potential employer. It used to be a nice to have; now it’s seen as standard.”

Charles Macleod, the head of engagement at Pricewater-houseCoopers (PwC), says that CSR does make a difference to the graduates that his firm targets, but not hugely so. This is partly because PwC’s main rivals in the recruitment market also have good CSR offerings, so it doesn’t particularly set one apart from the other. “It’s one of those things that we all have,” he says. “If we weren’t able to speak about this it would be conspicuous, but we all can.” But one area in which PwC believes that it can differentiate itself is its promise to go carbon neutral, so it has changed the way it runs its graduate recruitment programme to highlight this. Two years ago it was reasonably frivolous – sponsoring balls and the like – “this year we have students riding bikes to show them how much energy it takes to power a laptop”.

On the other hand, being a responsible business doesn’t simply mean having a good CSR policy, Macleod says; strong business ethics also play a part. This aspect is particularly important to candidates considering joining the firm as experienced hires.

Mark Varney, business development manager at the Fairtrade Foundation, says that responsible companies are more attractive because they allow employees to adhere to the same values at work that they do in their private lives. “We’re seeing a significant increase in interest in fair trade from a consumer perspective and, as with other trends, what’s seen with consumers can be translated into the work environment,” he says. “All employees are consumers as well. [Working for a responsible business] can be a very motivating and engaging thing. The most important difference that it will make is to corporate pride; that people can work for an organisation that shares the values they have as consumers.”