Pledge to Recycle

Pledge to Recycle
Originally uploaded by aimeedars

When I was grocery shopping at the local P&C, I saw this banner above the front office. Employees had signed their pledge to help make the store's recycling efforts successful.

Skills-Based Volunteerism

In a guest column on Fortune online, Deloitte CEO Barry Salzberg discusses that employee volunteerism, particularly volunteer opportunities that capitalize on the skills possessed by a company's workforce (e.g., IT, Marketing, Personell Management), can bring value to non-profit organizaitons, communities, companies, and the employees involved in the volunteer programs. While an internal Deloitte survey* found that 91% of respondents felt skills-based volunteering would promote training and development, only 16% of companies offer skills-based EVPs. This is an area that companies should investigate to integrate into their CSR initiatives.

* Details of the survey are not available in the column; not sure if it was sent to Deloitte employees or other companies

FORTUNE Column

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

An excerpt from The Gort Cloud: The Invisible Force Powering Today's Most Visible Green Brands by Richard Seireeni with Scott Fields explores Green Mountain's success in marketing its product through championing causes such as fair-trade, shade-grown coffees that benefit both the people producing the coffee as well as the migratory birds finding shelter in the coffee fields.

Interestingly, Seireeni reports that most of the initiatives used in the company's marketing come from within. Employees are encouraged "to make a positive difference."

“Bob Stiller believes that when an individual is allowed to follow his own passion, it will work better,” Whalen continues, hence the extensive continuous learning and development seminars offered by the company. “At Green Mountain Coffee, it’s about what you’re passionate about. And when that’s sincerely carried out, it leads to great business results . . .”

Triple Pundit Post

What Makes an Employee Volunteer Program Successful?

In a post on the "Realizing Your Worth" blog, Alyson Genovese distinguishes between transformational and transactional employee volunteer programs (EVP) (discussed in my dissertation under the construct "motive"). In the latter, employee volunteers perform a transaction to give the business good press, a photo opportunity, or improved reputation. The former types of volunteer programs are the ones that, Genovese argues, can really make a difference for both the volunteers and the non-profits. These are the programs that both utilize, and enhance employees' skills--or, I would suggest, offer employees the opportunity to invest in a nonprofit whose mission speaks to them.

Since EVP are more prevalent as corporations' CSR budgets diminish, the issue of motive is one firms must address.

Rewarding Good Employees in a Bad Economy

The Business Insider suggests that when it is not possible to give excellent employees raises for performance, giving them time off to volunteer may be a perk that helps boost morale.

Article

John Hancock Boston Marathon Employee Volunteers

John Hancock is a sponsor of the Boston Marathon. In addition, 89 employee runners participated in the marathon, raising more than $176,000 for summer positions for area teenagers.

Press Release

ThedaCare's Helping Hearts Program

In Waupaca, Wisconsin, ThedaCare, a community-owned health system, sponsors a "Helping Hearts" employee volunteer program. Initiated in 2003, Helping Hearts allows employees to log volunteer hours at their non-profit of choice (and occassionally helps match volunteers with volunteer opportunities). When the employee meets certain requirements, ThedaCare provides a donation to the NPO. ThedaCare also has a matching grants program for selected organizations.

Based on the comments in the postcrescent.com article, ThedaCare's employees appreciate the ability to be recognized for their work in the community as well as raise funds for their favorite organizations. This is a relatively low-cost, low-investement model for organizations, as the employees are primarily responsible for finding their volunteer opportunities and logging the hours. Because employees can choose their organization, they may be more invested in volunteering. At the same time, the organization gains appreciation from the employees and the community. A drawback is that this model does not provide the team-building opportunities group employee volunteer programs offer.

Postcrescent.com Article