BURO Club, more responsible than ever
Office Space news by BURO Club

News of the 17/03/2016

First French network of independent business centers, BURO Club gets involved. The expert of virtual offices and serviced office rental shows more than ever its interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a sustainable way to act.

Commonly referred to by its initials "CSR", Corporate Social Responsibility is a broad concept. However, within BURO Club, we are already well informed on the subject. "CSR is the voluntary integration by companies of social and environmental concerns in business and relationships with stakeholders. It affects employees, suppliers and customers", says Pascal Cottin, Executive Assistant at the business center of Paris Vendôme. "As part of a professional activity, sustainable development is what meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs", continues the right hand of Alain Choppy, head of Vendôme business center. "I recently attended a training of sustainable development project manager with Cegos (worldwide leader in training and development)", he states.

Informed about CSR

Pascal Cottin’s qualifying training was composed of sixty hours divided into three units. The first allows students to discover or to consolidate their understanding about the CSR concepts and issues. The second is to develop an action plan within the company and paves the way for the third and final part of learning, devoted to communication and enhancement of the CSR approach. "I did a dissertation for which I had to introduce CSR main principles to the board of directors. The purpose of this exchange was to raise awareness throughout BURO Club’s network so that we can be fully committed to social and environmental considerations in our business", he explains.

CSR is embodied in seven areas, of which four are currently priorities for BURO Club. They affect relations and working conditions (to enhance the human being behind the employee), the environment (the company helps preserving the planet), good business practices (being a loyal and responsible player in the markets) and respect for the client's interests.

CSR, a natural evolution

"Adopting a responsible governance has become obvious at this time", relates Pascal Cottin, and it is essential for several reasons. BURO club has great ambitions and continues to grow. The more the network grows, the more it impacts people around. That is why the company wishes to establish clear commitments and targets including sustainability of employment, for instance by proposing permanent contracts instead of fixed-term contracts. But it also involves optimization of capacities and knowledge internally. "On this matter, we already had a great CSR pole without knowing it with BURO Club Academy", declares Pascal Cottin.

On the other hand, a majority of large companies already ask to work with partners that respect CSR principles as they do. This commitment is an attractive feature for BURO Club. In addition to operate more ethically, it will enable the company to work with bigger corporations.

Paris Vendôme: control center

Vendôme business center is already experimenting some commitments regarding the environment. "We have signed a contract with La Poste named Recy'go. This is a service of office papers collection and recycling", tells Pascal Cottin, who wants to set an example. "La Poste provides us special bins to collect papers that postmen recover once a week. We have around thirty offices, and each one has its bin. We explained the meaning and purpose of our approach to our clients, and they all joined. It is important to give them simple and practical means to participate and to be involved with this responsible policy", explains the Executive Assistant. As for the financial costs associated with this action, BURO Club easily covers them. "At Vendôme, only one contract of virtual office is enough to cover the cost of one year of Recy'go. This also allows us to better respect the environment code." According to that code, a business center is the holder of the waste produced by its clients and has to organize the selective sorting. Now in addition to being responsible, BURO Club is committed to a great approach for the future of society, in the broadest of sense.