Now more than ever, companies are investing in the community, increasingly because they see a true business benefit from their involvement.
Volunteerism is a key component of most corporate community programs, largely because of the effect it can have on employee engagement. A PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that employees who are most committed to their organizations put in 57 percent more effort on the job and were 87 percent less likely to resign than employees who consider themselves disengaged.
In addition, an increasing number of employees want to work for a company that cares. Offering opportunities to engage in the community differentiates your business, allowing you to recruit and retain top talent.
Involving employees in a program that combines hands-on volunteer projects, skills-based volunteerism, pro bono efforts and board service helps give employees a sense of purpose as well as a greater connection to the community, and to your company.
Group volunteer projects offer employees an opportunity to get to know each other outside of the office. When you’re serving meals to people in need or packing school supplies for low-income students, the lines of departments and seniority disappear, and folks can share a meaningful experience that can result in stronger relationships back at the workplace.
Skills-based volunteerism and pro bono services allow employees to contribute their expertise while giving them opportunities to learn, grow and develop professional skills. For many young lawyers, pro bono work provides opportunities to lead cases and focus on furthering their development as attorneys.
Here are four tips on how to get a community engagement program started at your company:
• Determine your objectives. By being clear on what success looks like, you can design a program that will work for your company.
• Offer a variety of opportunities for involvement. By providing different ways to engage (on-site/off-site, skills-based, group volunteering, pro bono, etc.), you allow for a broader group of employees to be involved.
• Engage employees in planning and implementation. By bringing together employees from different departments and levels of seniority, you will be able to design a program that will work throughout your organization.
• Find a great community partner. Adopting a school through the Clark County School District’s School-Community Partnership program (partnership.ccsd.net), for instance, helps the school meet the needs of its students while offering a variety of ways for our employees to engage.
Two other great resources for locating community partners are pointsoflight.org and volunteermatch.org.
Kristin Stork is director of community relations at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.