Corporate Social Responsibility

Ricoh is a company that strives to be known as a socially responsible corporate citizen. In order to achieve this, Ricoh focuses on several different aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility.

1) Human Rights
Ricoh considers the respect of human rights in the business world to be an non-negotiable truth, inherent to any company. As a result, Ricoh not only meets set standards for human rights within the corporation, but also applies different, tougher standards to themselves, such as the ISO 26000, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the human rights guidelines based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (the Ruggie Framework).
Ricoh also takes part in such activities as Human Rights E-Learning programs (which prove to be effective in providing understanding to Japanese affiliates), CSR Self-Assessment by suppliers and related companies, and things as simple as coloring products in a way that is beneficial for colorblind people using Ricoh's products and services.
The activities that Ricoh has taken part in to ensure that human rights are being respects span back to the beginning of the company with the creation of the Human Rights Enlightenment Committee in 1991 to human rights and labor assessments being conducted in 2015 across China and Thailand.

2) Labor
Ricoh also tries to provide a good example of fair and ethical labor policies. They employ over 110,000 people, and upholding decent labor practices is understandably very important to the company.  In 2011, the Ricoh Group Human Resources Management Policy was finalized and implemented. Its goals were:

• wide dissemination of the RICOH Way
• training for top global talent
• global mobility
• identification of top talent throughout the world
• a global system of personnel management. 

Ricoh hoped that this policy would give all employees the ability to profit as much as possible from their individual talents, and to recognize those who go above and beyond and who would otherwise remain unnoticed. 

Additionally, The aforementioned RICOH Way was also formed in 2011, and implemented worldwide. It is a set of values pertaining to the integrity of the business, treatment of customers and employees, as well as social and diversity engagement. By promoting these ideals, Ricoh hopes to help prioritize what they feel is right and to create a work environment wherein employees can feel they are making a positive impact. 

3) Community

Following the philosophy of a company making a greater impact on the world rather than just it's products, Ricoh is a large supporter of understanding the community that they are based in and using this understanding to better the area and benefit the people.
Focusing on Posterity, People, and the Planet, Ricoh involves themselves with such endeavors as helping to fund a school in Japan focused on nature, and providing support for those devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Employees are encouraged to take part in community outreach programs, and the company itself is involved with the American Red Cross offering support to the company when their help is needed. 

Finally, in 2011, Ricoh launched the "Save the Memory" project. This endeavor was aimed at Japan following the earthquake/tsunami that hit Tōhoku. Through Save the Memory, Ricoh used its expertise in photos and cameras to restore and return over 90,000 pictures to families who had lost them in the devastation. 

4) Environment

Ricoh places the most emphasis of all on the environment. Protecting the planet is an issue that is very important to them and has been since the conception of the company. There are quite a few actions that Ricoh has taken and ideas that they have had that benefit the earth, and this is a great point of pride for the company. 

One of these bigger points is energy conservation. As it is, Ricoh as a company specializes in products that use up energy, so the company strives to find ways to use up as little as possible. As a result, they have created copiers and printers that preform faster and more efficiently than any other in the business, and projectors that, when idle, cut down wasted energy to only one watt. 

Besides products in use, Ricoh also prioritizes recycling as an action that is pretty much vital to any company. They established the Committee for Environment-Compatible Design in 1993, which worked to cut down unnecessary product used in packaging, designed products to accommodate reuse, and streamlined the disassembly process of used up products to encourage recycling. Ricoh also created a company wide recycling information system to assure that recyclable parts can easily be identified as such in the workplace itself. Their emphasis on recycling is prioritized over making money, which is an excellent sign. 

During the creation of their products, Ricoh is aware of the pollution that is caused and hopes to cut it down as much as possible. They created a system in 2006 to regulate and cut down any product used in the manufacturing process for this reason. 

Biodiversity and eco balance are also environmental issues which tie to the community. Ricoh created a map linking their practices to the effects on biodiversity in order to better understand the issue. In 2009, The Ricoh Group Biodiversity Policy was created, which implemented a reduction of harmful practices, as well as volunteer opportunities for employees to help conserve the natural world. Ricoh's corporate land is also home to a bee garden, created in 2013, and created Ricoh Global Eco Action Day in 2005. Every June 5th, Ricoh's employees are encouraged to engage in eco-friendly action and education, and all Ricoh billboards are turned off (besides the ones that are powered by wind or sunlight!)

In conclusion, Ricoh, like any corporation, may sometimes fall short of being completely without sin, however the actions that the company takes, especially in the case of environmental awareness, is very unique and heartening, as the one can see that they genuinely care for the earth and are constantly striving to better themselves and the communities that they are involved in in many different aspects every day.