My father had a legendary moustache. Unfortunately, I was not blessed with the same gift. This made my Novembers quite awkward when I would invariably attempt to host some ill-formed caterpillar on my upper lip.

My attempts were almost as ridiculous as my succumbing to peer-pressure to wear something pink for all of October. Superficialities it seems are the domain of the autumn period, when, after a summer of Dionysian celebrations, companies feel the need to clamber on to their moral high horse and start focusing on their beloved corporate social responsibility (CSR).

At its basis, CSR has good intentions and attempts to acknowledge that, to some degree or another, all businesses are a burden to their communities and try to restore some balance by giving back to the community. Very often, in practice, the initiative takes the form of a ribbon-cutting exercise that is aimed at messaging the executive’s ego and restoring the brand of the company more than any measure of social impact.

The projects that get funded under the guise of CSR are often one-time projects, with unstudied social impacts, funding whatever cause is sexiest at the time and, very often, influenced solely by public perception.

Although it is difficult to measure and quantify, these kinds of approaches can easily cause more harm than good and frustrate perennial workers in social fields who are left to clean the narcissistic mess.

For CSR to work, a different approach needs to be taken. First and foremost, before any conversation can take place about what companies can do let us begin with the basics. Pay taxes.

Let us stop with puerile morality avoiding arguments and trying to find the fine line between tax evasion and tax avoidance and own up to the moral duty of all who benefit from community resources and pay their dues in tax.

Let us move beyond pink sweaters and awkward moustaches- Andrew Camilleri

Secondly, before engaging in elaborate PR exercises, take a moment to ensure that the business ensures: safe working environments for workers, fair wages, hiring practices that promote diversity, job security, provide transparency about supply chains, mitigate if not eliminate carbon impact and assure the ethical and just sourcing of raw materials.

If a company feels it fulfills these criteria, it can then start thinking to engage with CSR.

For the latter to be successful, however, it must be a long-term project, co-developed with actual members of communities and the result of actual relationships with real community entities, sustainable for the business to ensure that it doesn’t overpromise and underdeliver.

Most importantly, it must be done in consultation with persons with the right kind of expertise who can measure the quality and quantity of the intervention, as well as provide feedback along the way.

Companies that will reap the most benefits of CSR will not engage in sporadic, disconnected exercises and do not consider it as an add-on to their business but will embrace CSR with conviction and empower competent leaders to bring to the fore results that provide a net-benefit for the impacted community over the long-term.

Let us move beyond pink sweaters and awkward moustaches and provide real tangible solutions that impact stakeholders rather than provide for excellent social media fodder.

Andrew Camilleri, PhD candidate, Community Psychology.