By Alvin Foo

MORE graduates in Europe are now scrutinising a prospective employer's record on social responsibility and environmental sustainability before deciding where they want to work.

This trend will soon also come to Asia, said Mr Allen Blewitt, the chief executive of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants yesterday.

He was in town to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to promote sustainability among local businesses.

This is a body supported by the Ministry of Manpower, NTUC Income, the Singapore National Employers Federation and the Singapore Business Federation to promote CSR, which covers areas such as human rights and labour rights.

The agreement enables the bodies to work together to boost the sustainable development of Singapore companies.

A sustainability reporting workshop will be held next month as the first collaboration under this MOU.

Mr Blewitt told The Straits Times: 'CSR and environmental reporting are two issues that energise young people. Apart from earning income, it makes them feel good to work there.

'If you want to attract the best and brightest graduates, this is an issue that companies should get engaged in.'

He explained that surveys in Britain and Europe revealed that more than 50 per cent of graduates would treat these issues as a 'critical factor' in choosing an employer.

'If the choice was between a company which was a major polluter and an environmentally forward-looking company, they would definitely go for the latter,' he said.

'That's because they are young, idealistic and want to make a difference in the world.'

Mr Blewitt felt that this movement would spread to Asia soon.

'We're pretty sure anecdotally that it will be a similar phenomenon in Asia. It will be the trend moving forward.'

And given the current talent crunch, companies could lift their profile in terms of CSR-related issues as a pull factor to attract the brightest minds to work with them.

This could be done by 'creating a team within the management to drive sustainability reporting', he said.

But given the recent economic uncertainty brought about by the United States sub-prime crisis, a global slowdown and rising inflation, does it still make sense for local businesses to devote time and resources on CSR?

Mr Blewitt said: 'It's much more than about the short-term bottom lines. It's about the long-term reputation of the company - you can't put a value to that.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 12 July 2008.