Company corporate social relations’ (CSR) policy can sometimes tread a fine line between benevolence - making a real difference to society - and what could be called ‘corporate-washing’: creating a veneer of worthiness while leaving the underlying reality of the business unchanged or even pursuing the opposite direction.
Consider the example of Volkswagen in the famous Dieselgate scandal of 2015. For years, Volkswagen had promoted its diesel cars as a cleaner, more environmentally responsible choice, while the US Environmental Protection Agency later alleged that the company had installed software between 2009 and 2015 into their diesel vehicles to circumvent emissions standards. The cars emitted up to 40 times more pollution than permitted under those standards. This was a catastrophic example of lying on an organisational scale. VW’s share price dropped by 40% overnight when the issues were exposed. To date, VW has paid over £23 billion in fines, legal costs and settlements.
Such hypocrisy is not just galling to customers; it also impacts how employees at the company feel. They notice how a corporate ‘purpose’ is extolled in advertising campaigns but not in backed up by internal policy. Company values might appear on staff room posters but are rarely matched in decision-making. The organisation celebrates its contribution to society while quietly tolerating burnout, poor management or unfairness inside the system. Such was the case in Volkswagen where engineers, too afraid of giving bad news to their line managers, developed the software to cheat the emissions tests.
Once employees experience a gap between what the organisation says and what it does, purpose stops being a source of energy and becomes a source of cynicism. Over time, that gap can become corrosive. People may still turn up to work and comply with instructions, but the deeper emotional contract weakens. Motivation becomes more transactional and discretionary effort declines.
Unsurprisingly employee satisfaction and productivity levels at VW dropped to their lowest levels following the Dieselgate probe.
In work as in life, it seems, actions speak louder than words.
References:
Adeoti, T. (2025, June). Dieselgate: How Volkswagen engineered a lie. Medium