Toshiba Group holds worldwide celebration of its annual 'CSR month'

Held every December since 2006, CSR Month reminds employees and stakeholders around the world of the importance Toshiba says it attaches to turning its guiding principles – committed to people, committed to the future – into real engagement with society, thorough events and activities that raise personal awareness and contribute to the community.

This year, a highlight of the month was on December 5, International Volunteer Day, when employees at Toshiba companies worldwide underlined their personal commitment to contributing to a better world by participating in a wide range of voluntary activities, large and small.

In Japan, Toshiba lined up a full calendar of events, including a continuing programme of support for Save the Children Japan. Toshiba is supporting a kindergarten in Tanzania, and employees in Japan collected donations and prepared materials for use in the school. 

Other activities included programmes at the Tokyo headquarters and Smart Community Centre in Kawasaki to promote human rights for children and promotion of voluntary activities in the Tohoku region in support of the continued recovery from the 2011 earthquake. 

Many kinds of other activities were held around the world. In China, 30 companies promoted reducing environmental stresses through recycling, and made donations to Toshiba Hope Elementary Schools for children in need. 

Toshiba America Group companies participated in Soles4Soles, an anti-poverty campaign, and planned to contribute more than 5,000 pairs of shoes to charity, plus clothes. 

Employees of Toshiba India helped clean up public spaces. 

In Singapore, local companies reached out to support a residential school that provides a home for disadvantaged children, and in Brazil, a helping hand was extended to the homeless. 

In France, three Toshiba Group companies organised voluntary activities, and in Germany volunteers supported regeneration of a disaster-hit forest.

A driving force behind Toshiba’s volunteer day was president and chief executive officer Hisao Tanaka. Since his appointment in June last year, Tanaka has repeatedly emphasised CSR as the guiding force for Toshiba Group’s approach to management. 

In his message announcing this year’s CSR Month, Tanaka said: “All group employees worldwide are encouraged to participate in activities that contribute to their local community, and to make sizeable impacts that could not be achieved by an individual acting alone. What each individual can do is small, but a groundswell of social contributions can be generated if all 200,000 Toshiba Group employees join forces.”

On Wednesday, the annual Toshiba Group CSR Conference was held at Toshiba’s Tokyo headquarters, culminating in an awards ceremony to recognise outstanding achievements in CSR activities over the past year. There were more than 1,400 nominations, and awards were presented to 14 companies and six individuals.