Corporate social responsibility in Switzerland: a practical CSR action plan

How do you identify your CSR priorities?

Describe what your business actually does: the products or services it supplies, the resources it uses, the people it affects and its main commercial partners. A transport company, a consultancy and a food retailer face different issues.

Then review potential impacts and warning signs already available: incidents, complaints, recruitment difficulties, supplier dependencies, high resource consumption or recurring customer requirements.

Listen to the people affected

Employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders can identify issues that management may overlook. Give each consultation a clear purpose and decide how the responses will inform your decisions.

A company-wide survey is not always necessary. Targeted discussions, an incident review or an analysis of recurring requests can provide useful evidence. However, the people who are easiest to contact do not necessarily represent everyone affected by your activities.

Prioritise significant issues, not just easy actions

An issue may deserve attention because of the severity or likelihood of an impact, a legal requirement or an operational risk. Ease of implementation should be only one consideration.

These examples illustrate the method. They do not replace an assessment of your own business or make other issues irrelevant.

Which Swiss rules should your CSR programme consider?

CSR brings together legal duties and voluntary commitments. In Switzerland, certain businesses fall within the Code of Obligations requirements on non-financial reporting. Separate provisions address specified conflict minerals and metals, and risks involving child labour.

Check the applicable scope, exemptions and responsibilities. Calling your company an SME does not, by itself, establish that no duties apply. Equally, Swiss businesses are not all required to publish the same sustainability report. A customer or parent company's request for information may arise from a contract or group policy rather than a direct statutory reporting duty.

Separate current requirements from proposed legislation

The Swiss proposal for a Federal Act on Sustainable Corporate Management was consulted on from 2 April to 9 July 2026. A consultation proposal is not, on that basis alone, an obligation already in force. Follow official publications and distinguish proposals, adopted legislation and effective dates.

Businesses with foreign operations may need a separate assessment of local and group requirements. The Swiss position does not automatically settle obligations abroad.

How can ISO 26000 help?

ISO 26000 provides guidance on social responsibility and can help structure the issues you examine. It is not intended for certification. Using the guidance does not entitle a business to claim that it is “ISO 26000 certified”.

CSR describes the broader management approach. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria can help organise the information used to assess particular aspects of it. An ESG rating is a separate assessment under a provider's methodology; it does not replace your own responsibilities.

Build a practical CSR action plan over 90 days

The timetable below is a management suggestion, not a regulatory deadline. Its purpose is to turn a broad intention into an initial working process.

Month one: establish your starting point

Appoint a person to coordinate the work and secure support from management. List applicable obligations, existing commitments and available information. Select a few priorities and record why they matter.

Avoid setting a numerical target before you understand the baseline. A promise to reduce something by 30% is not usable unless the scope, measurement method and reference year are clear.

Month two: launch manageable actions

For each priority, specify an action, an owner, a budget and a deadline. This might mean formalising a safety procedure, correcting a supplier check or measuring consumption that has not previously been recorded.

Match the plan to available skills and resources. If a commitment depends on a supplier, discuss it with that supplier before presenting the outcome as something your business already controls.

Month three: check results and adjust

Review completed work, difficulties and early results. Distinguish finishing an action from demonstrating its effect: drafting a policy does not prove that staff understand or apply it.

Use the review to decide whether to continue, change or strengthen an action, or stop one that does not address the identified problem.

Which indicators should you use to measure progress?

Every indicator needs a definition, a scope, a reporting period, a data source and an owner. You should be able to explain its calculation and its limitations.

Depending on your priorities, you might monitor physical consumption, safety incidents, training hours or completed controls. The examples of ESG indicators in our related article can help you select relevant measures.

Measure outcomes as well as activity

Training hours show an effort made. On their own, they do not demonstrate better skills or working conditions. Combine that measure with a check of whether people apply what they learned.

Similarly, sending a questionnaire to suppliers does not prove that risks have been managed. Track responses, identified problems and the actions taken to resolve them.

Explain why figures change

Lower energy consumption may reflect lower production. More reported incidents may mean that staff are more willing to raise concerns. Interpret each figure in its operational context.

If you use an estimate, identify it as such, document the assumptions and plan improvements where the data matters. A transparent estimate is more useful than apparent precision without a reliable method.

Invoices and accounting records can support some information sources. They do not replace physical measurements or evidence about impacts on people and the environment.

Communicate your CSR work accurately

Make claims that can be checked: describe the action, the activities covered, the period, the result and the limits. “Our offices used less electricity within this measured scope” is more precise than a broad claim that the whole company is “sustainable”.

Do not turn an isolated action into a conclusion about the entire business. Recycling does not cover every corporate responsibility, and a donation does not automatically compensate for a problem in your operations.

Do you need to publish a CSR report?

Start with the applicable duties, then consider what readers need. A short statement may be sufficient to explain a limited voluntary programme. A statutory report or a claim of compliance with a standard requires more.

The GRI Standards can structure reporting on impacts. Describe their use accurately: selecting a few disclosures is not the same as meeting all requirements for reporting in accordance with the Standards. Investor-focused IFRS S1 and S2 disclosures address a different reporting perspective.

Connect CSR to routine management

Include priorities in management meetings and budgets. A programme disconnected from purchasing, recruitment and investment decisions is unlikely to remain useful.

Tracking expenditure helps identify the resources committed, but CSR should not be reduced to cost savings. Some actions address legal duties or significant impacts even when they provide no immediate financial return.

Frequently asked questions about CSR