Defending Corporations

Are they all as bad as protesters make them out?

Photo: pro.corbis.com

Once again, the Careers Service has been organising events left, right and centre in a bid to help us get a job when we (shock, horror) finally graduate. Those of you in your final year (myself included) may be paying attention, too. No one could fail to notice the accountancy firm that advertised itself with a big white domed tent on Vanbrugh Piazza last term. I even saw some of their employees singing about “a career in finance” just to grab people’s attention. But what grabbed my attention was the small group of protesters (both of them) just outside this tent. I only took a glance at their sandwich boards, which said something about how these corporations were bad, and that we shouldn’t sign up to them.

I might agree with them, were it not for the fact that some of my friends who graduated last year are still having trouble finding a job. Many of them are temping until they find something more permanent, and what they’re doing at the moment doesn’t pay particularly well. Unfortunately, this is when money matters — when you’ve got barely enough to live on. At a bare minimum, we need it to pay rent, to eat, to clothe ourselves. In the future, we might need it to feed, house, and clothe our family. Then there’s that student debt that we’ve accumulated over the past three or four years. I wonder if the protesters will change their attitude when they graduate and can’t find employment?

Having excused my way past the person with the financial singing voice (“No thanks, I’m an engineer”), I thought about telling the protesters exactly how I felt on the subject. Ok, so I didn’t stay to chat. Instead, I picked up some bumpf from the company for my friends who are having a hard time getting a job. As I left, I was handed one of the protesters’ leaflets, cleverly disguised as more company bumpf. It detailed some of the numerous evils of said company, such as taking defence related contracts, and exploiting the world’s poor.

Photo: ecarboot.net/Photolibrary

Sure, if that’s all they do, then I don’t think I’d like to work for them. But as always, there’s a bigger picture to it. I wouldn’t say there’s anything inherently wrong with working for an accountancy firm, and if they’re good at what they do, then it’s reasonable to expect the Military to hire them. So why should we focus on the negative aspects, while ignoring the good work a company does? Off the top of my head, I can think of worse careers that are worthwhile protesting about, that have almost no redeeming features. I’ll take a career in telesales as an example, particularly ones in which cold calling is practiced, and particularly when elderly people are the target of such calls. In my opinion, that’s worse than taking a contract with a military body to help them sort out their finances.

Now I’m going to say something that’s going to sound heretical: I don’t believe all corporations are evil. True, they’re businesses, and the goal of a business is to make money. But in general, is it really their intention to make money, regardless of whether it’s ethical or not? And if they do seem to be charitable or ethically sound, is that purely for good PR? Let’s take as an example some company that practices what is known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). One definition of CSR encompasses “[a company] that takes account of all the positive and negative environmental, social and economic effects it has on society” (source: Amnesty International). It sounds good so far, but there are many other definitions, depending on your interpretation. The website csreurope.org defines it as “the way a company manages and improves its social and environmental impact to generate value […]”.

Already, we can be cynical about this company’s motives for practising CSR — is it purely for good PR? Perhaps it’s because the current market favours environmentally friendly products, since they’re more popular with the customers (but who knows how this’ll change in the future). But if any of these financially directed motives were true, then the least we could say is “At least they are doing something for the good of mankind,” no matter how small this is. If we were employees of theirs, it would be our duty as Christians to encourage them to have a broader appreciation for being an ethical company.

But in any case, as Christians, what should we do? If we’re thinking of applying to a corporation, than I would say that we should find out as much as we can on the company’s system of ethics, by what they do and how they go about doing it. Further, we can ask them about it if we get called for interview, and perhaps see what their views are on CSR. Most importantly, we could look to prayer. Not necessarily “Please God, find a job for me that’s good for the soul and pays well!” but perhaps we could pray for guidance about what we want to do with our lives. Which to be honest is really what finding a job is about.

Going back to whether I would take a job with a company involved with the military, I think it comes down to being sensible. If I were having trouble finding employment (I may not make the grades I need for the job I want), and a job offer from an accountancy firm came up (who’s taken one Military contract in its life, never mind all the charity work it does), I might actually take it — at least, to pay off my bills and student debt until something better came along. I think that if people are going to protest about such things, then they should try having a family to feed and house first, and see if their mind is changed by any prospects of employment. Even telesales.

Keith McKillop