An Overview of eBay CSR Practices
Unlike other major corporations of similar sizes, eBay does not release an annual sustainability report. Nevertheless, information about eBay CSR efforts can be found on the company’s website. Most of eBay’s social responsibility initiatives are conducted by the EBay Foundation.
Table 3 below illustrates the major points of eBay CSR programs and initiatives:
| Categories of CSR activities | eBay Performance |
| Supporting local communities | Global Impact Team program established in 2008 attempts to engage employees in service to the communities where they live and work
In the US, 35 eBay offices have GIVE teams — groups of employees who voluntarily participate in charitable events and allocating grant funds to organizations in their local communities |
| Educating and empowering workers | eBay offers a range of leadership development programs to employees at all levels. For example, eBay’s Finance Leadership Development Program (FLDP) highlights a unique employee experience. Each FLDP cohort receives extensive leadership development, coaching, and senior executive mentoring, while working on challenging assignments |
| Labour and human rights | The company has been receiving the maximum score of 100 per cent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI) every year since 2009 |
| Employee health and safety | eBay organizes an annual ‘health and safety week’ to raise awareness of health within the workplace. It includes completion of health and safety survey, attending workshop and seminars. |
| Gender equality and minorities | The launch of Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) in 2011 increased the number of women in leadership roles. 29% of eBay leadership positions are held by women and women represent 42 per cent of total workforce.
The company publicly advocate for equal rights for same-sex couples |
| Environment
a) energy consumption
b) water consumption
c) recycling
d) CO2 emissions |
eBay used 716,353 MWh of energy in 2014 alone. In 2013, the company has announced its commitments to invest in energy-efficient modern data centres
No information found
No information found
eBay CO2 emissions amounted to 308,592 tonnes in 2016 |
| Sustainable sourcing | No information found |
| Other initiatives and charitable donations | In 2014, eBay Foundation made a total of USD4.7 million in grants to non-profit organizations worldwide. Since its establishment, the foundation donated close to USD 35 million
In 2014, the company raised USD 91.6 million for various charities via rallying its customers During the same period Stub Hub gave more than USD 900,000 to local sports and arts nonprofits |
eBay CSR performance[1]
eBay Inc. Report contains a criticism of eBay CSR programs and initiatives. The report also illustrates the application of the major analytical strategic frameworks in business studies such as SWOT, PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, Value Chain analysis and McKinsey 7S Model on eBay. Moreover, the report contains analysis of eBay marketing strategy along with discussion of its leadership and organizational structure.
[1]Figures taken from eBay official website