Dow Corning Citizen Corps: International Impact

Dow Corning offers employees a number of employee volunteer programs in their key areas of education, community vitality, and outreach. However, if I were an employee of Dow Corning, I'd want to join the Dow Corning Citizen Service Corps. In this program, employees commit to a four-week service project in which they provide skills-based volunteering in developing countries.

The first trip, conducted as a pilot, garnered 100 applications from employees out of which 10 were selected to travel to India in 2010 for a four week assignment. A second cohort worked in Bangalore. Some tweets about the Citizen Service Corps are indexed under #DCServiceCorps. There is reference to a blog for participants, but it is password protected.

Because the Dow Corning employees spent a month immersed in the local culture, they were able to experience a developing country and assist its citizens. Each employee was assigned to a particular project, and the employees provided expertise and assistance to the community partners. Employees brought back to Dow Corning a better sense of the opportunities and challenges for the company at the bottom of the pyramid. Laura Asiala, Director of Corporate Citizenship, noted that the company is exploring at least 15 business opportunities derived from the experiences of DC Citizen Corps volunteers. Upon her return, one employee remarked that the experience made her career more meaningful. A study commissioned by DC and conducted by a Harvard Business School Professor, revealed that alumni of the program were less like to turnover. My biggest question is why DC hasn't sent more cohorts.

Pyxera, founder of the Center of Excellence for International Volunteering manages international skills-based volunteering programs to handle the administrative details that companies may not have the expertise or desire to handle. IBM, a founding partner, regularly sends teams of employees through its Corporate Service Corps program. Patagonia offers a sabbatical program, just as exciting for its employees, but the placements are not always international, and they are not team-based.

Whether domestic or international, these longer-term volunteer placements provide numerous benefits to the employee, the host community, and the company. If your business strategy relates to development, selecting such an EVP may provide multiple gains above the program's expense.

 

References

• Kanani, Rahim (2012, July 17). "IBM Deploys Talent, Technology and Innovation for Global Social Progress," Forbes. 
• Tergeson, Anne (2012, January 9). "Doing good to do well," Wall Street Journal.