CSR, or corporate social responsibility, allows businesses to contribute to a variety of social and environmental problems. Employee engagement is enhanced by CSR, which allows employees to volunteer for causes that coincide with the company's mission.
Many firms are integrating or have integrated various sorts of corporate social responsibility strategies because investing in corporate volunteer programs offers long-term rewards through employee retention, engagement, and customer loyalty. According to a Millennial employee engagement study, 64% of Millennials won’t take a job if the company doesn’t have strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) values.
However, corporate volunteering has been the most popular program. Volunteerism's participative aspect has a favorable impact on an employee's perception of the organization while also creating a more meaningful link to the larger community. Employee volunteerism is now a part of many high-profile firms' corporate social responsibility strategies. Let us look at how you can incorporate virtual volunteering into your CSR strategy.
When developing a corporate volunteer program, a variety of structures can be used, ranging from organized corporate volunteer events to ongoing programs or even employee-led initiatives. Just as successful businesses have an operational model that is tailored to their industry, your virtual volunteer model should be no exception. You need to start with a vast online volunteering strategy, whether it's for employee engagement or a humanitarian aim to support the community.
A good employee volunteer program should include the following characteristics:
Here are some guidelines to help you implement your employee volunteer program:
As a corporation, you will have certain values, visions, and missions that you strive to achieve. These values should apply to your CSR as your corporate values define the various kinds of activities it would like to promote and have its employees engage in. A strong CSR strategy establishes how your chosen plan can fit into your company's growth strategy as well as ensures that your project continues on track and meets all KPIs. For your employee volunteering program, you can either pick virtual volunteering or in-community volunteering for your employees based on your firm's policies. You may offer employees paid Volunteer Time Off (VTO) or have your employees volunteer over the weekends.
What is the program's purpose? Is it about retaining, engaging, and developing employees, or about volunteering a particular number of hours in the community? If you want to retain employees, you should include them in the discussion. Ask them about the causes they would like to be involved in and volunteer for. Employees may find it impersonal and difficult to connect to their work when the company decides on their behalf which causes support. You can use your volunteer program as a team-building activity. Instead of retreating, people collaborate to create a better influence, which raises morale and leads to more constructive and useful workplaces.
Before you can promote your corporate volunteer program, you must first have a variety of volunteer opportunities accessible for your motivated employees. You can choose to either collaborate with local nonprofits or charitable organizations to help you launch your volunteer activities. You may also look into partnering with virtual volunteering platforms that have already associated with nonprofits such as Chezuba. They offer a myriad of projects from NGOs, supporting various causes from across the globe. Your employees will also be able to choose the skill they want to volunteer for via the Chezuba platform.
To evaluate the performance of your virtual volunteering activities, set appropriate goals and indicators. Volunteering hours, the number of volunteers and the level of beneficiary engagement gained through the program are all important indicators to track. Collect employee feedback after each volunteer activity to see how deep the experience is – and whether it can be improved. Collaborate with the nonprofit to hold beneficiary feedback sessions. Determine whether you were able to achieve the impact you had hoped for. This is critical; you don't want your virtual volunteering to be limited to a simple engagement activity with no tangible rewards.
Virtual volunteering can provide meaningful experiences and help those a part of it gain new perspectives. This can also boost staff morale, increase your brand's reputation, and encourage others to join the virtual volunteering bandwagon.
Chezuba understands all the needs a corporate might have while creating their CSR programs and has built an all-inclusive technology, your company can use to track and measure your employee engagement strategy. All this while offering your employees a wonderful volunteer experience. Book a demo with us to know how we can help your organization.
We help purpose-driven companies to manage their social impact strategy
