The majority of consumers around the world want the brands they support to align with their values. They prefer to engage with, work for, and buy products from companies that are working to fight climate change or support social issues, for example. Most companies are aware of this and have striven to be more sustainable and ethically responsible in recent years.
It’s no surprise that many business leaders are focusing on the PR and sales benefits of these changes. Giving back to your community can increase sales and improve your brand reputation. What company wouldn’t want that? However, the internal benefits for you and your team can be just as important, if not more important. Here’s how:
1. Promote engagement and ownership
Research shows that having more decision-making power increases employee motivation, which ultimately leads to better performance and a deeper sense of well-being. So putting your team members in charge of your company’s giving efforts doesn’t just allow them to contribute to causes they care about. They may also be more engaged in their daily tasks and perform better at work.
Playing a role in the decision-making process also helps employees feel a deeper connection to the company. Employees also said they felt heard at work. feel You can be more proactive and effective in your role. As a result, they are more likely to stay employed longer and have higher job satisfaction. Employees not only work at a higher level, they also become more emotionally invested in the company and its future.
So the first step in any company-wide giving effort is to seek input from your team members. Find out where they think the company’s time and money is best spent, and let them take control of the process.
This doesn’t mean senior leaders should sit back and let employees plan volunteer days all on their own. But asking for their input and giving them some autonomy can do wonders for your company culture. Rather than handing your team members a top-down plan, invite them to suggest, present, and vote on potential reasons for support. And give them the time and money they need to make their philanthropic ideas a reality.
2. Enabling employee growth
Another key factor in long-term employee satisfaction is training and development. A whopping 63% of people who left their jobs in 2021 cited a lack of career development and advancement opportunities as the reason. Therefore, retaining your best employees requires a solid strategy to foster their long-term career growth.
Of course, volunteer programs are no substitute for dedicated education, mentoring, and other development opportunities for your employees. But the right initiatives can serve as powerful advancement tools, especially when carried out during paid company time. Donation-focused activities can provide time and space to practice and demonstrate transferable skills.
Encourage volunteer work that allows employees to develop new skills and build network connections. Examples include serving on a charity committee alongside more established professionals, teaching in a second language, or learning new software tools to train others. there is. Certain types of dedicated long-term volunteer assignments can also develop employees into successful long-term employees.
Consider giving junior team members the opportunity to hone their leadership skills in volunteer work with an eye toward future promotion. Step back, let them run his show for a day, and based on what you learn about them, determine where they can thrive within your company. You don’t know what skills or qualities you’re missing out on because you’ve only seen junior employees in specific environments.
3. Promote team building
Sharing volunteer activities can also build trust and camaraderie among team members. A Stanford University study shows that company-sponsored volunteer activities can increase social bonds among co-workers. But this doesn’t just apply to old corporate-sponsored volunteering.
For this to work, teams of employees need to actually go out and volunteer together. To reap the benefits of social ties, it is not enough to make individual donations to separate charities of interest. It is also more effective when managers provide positive feedback after the activity is completed. This encouragement and praise appears to influence employee bonding and the extent to which they benefit from volunteering.
Over time, this bond improves team trust and helps teams work together more effectively. They can make better decisions together, which increases both efficiency and positivity in the workplace. Communication channels remain open and there is more knowledge sharing between team members and departments.
Also, volunteering is generally better for company culture than standard office team-building exercises. A shared sense of purpose feels more meaningful than your average office happy hour or baseball game. When employees are out of the office, they can speak more openly and comfortably than they would at the workplace. But with volunteering, team building doesn’t involve the awkwardness and trust-loss of ice-breaking games.
A shared sense of purpose
It is certainly beneficial to unite employees behind initiatives that go beyond the company’s mission. So, empower your employees to make a difference in the causes they care about most. You’ll have a stronger workforce, higher job satisfaction, and more engagement and commitment to each other and your company.
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