What are a few small but practical ways a small business can become more socially responsible?

Some practical things you can do are to: promote recycling by placing green/blue recycle bins in each break room, trying to go as paperless as you can by promoting email versus inbox, partner with local non-profits that serve less fortunate areas of the city and host food/clothes/toy drives, and plug in to local job fairs hosted/promoted by the county in which your office resides.

We put automatic sensors on all applicable light switches. We also encourage using personal mugs rather than Styrofoam cups.

I think we are confusing socially responsible with environmentally responsible. Which did you mean?

In order to be socially responsible, a company must first decide where the community needs them most. In our case, we do food drives a few times a year, along with some United Way programs to encourage employees to participate and donate when they can. A company has to set the example, and then encourage their employees to get involved.

To get started, get in contact with your local chamber of commerce. They keep their finger on the pulse of the community and can help point you in the right direction. From there you need to decide what is the right course of action for your organization. Get people from all levels of the company involved in the decision. If it is just a HR or Senior Exec decision it is harder to get employee buy in.

Some companies have volunteer days. Instead of working at the office, they "work" at their volunteer job.