- Employers should offer a variety of charity and volunteering initiatives and seek feedback on causes that are close to employees’ hearts.
- An organisation that is seen to be making a difference in the world can be attractive to current and potential staff.
- Monitoring participation levels and engagement with initiatives can help employers to see their impact.
The February 2023 Net positive employee barometer survey, commissioned by advocate and author Paul Polman, found that two in three UK employees want to work for an organisation that has a positive impact on the world. Some employees can access charity initiatives that benefit society and communities through their employer, helping them to feel like they are making a difference too. But how much of an impact do these initiatives have on engagement and motivation?
Popular schemes
Examples of charity initiatives include payroll giving, or give-as-you-earn (GAYE) schemes, and schemes offered by providers such as Microhive, formerly known as Pennies from Heaven, where employees can choose to donate small amounts, up to 99p, from each payslip. An employer can also match payroll donations or employee fundraising through a matched-giving scheme.
Dedicated volunteering policies often offer paid-time off to employees to help out in communities, such as working at food banks or at beach cleans, or using their skills to help a charity.
More recently, employers have been offering stipends for charity donation rather than the money coming out of employees’ own salaries, says Kayla Velnoskey, senior principal researcher in Gartner’s HR practice.
“Employees are also exploring more about what they can do in the local communities, where they have a footprint and connection,” she says. “Organisations that are committed to the environment, for instance, will offer more opportunities for these sorts of initiatives, as this aligns with their values.”
Having a range of opportunities available allows employees to choose one that matches their personal views. These could be offered through independent volunteering platforms, apps and local organisations. Examples of these are schemes that enable employees to shop for someone unable to do so themselves.
Gethin Nadin, chief innovation officer at Benefex, says: “We are also seeing the emergence of digital wallets that allow employees to donate money to causes closest to their hearts. These can be used to fund food banks, give directly to the homeless, offset carbon emissions or support local businesses.”
Engagement and motivation impact
Fundraising can give organisations an opportunity to create a meaningful dialogue about their social values and responsibilities. Initiatives should be driven from the top down, with senior leaders actively participating. They could also take suggestions from employees on how to support causes that interest them.
“Charity initiatives can impact community wellbeing and allow employees to connect to and engage with their communities,” says Velnoskey. “They can also impact employees’ discretionary effort and encourage them to go above and beyond at work. We’ve seen that charitable matching by employers has a positive impact on engagement, along with paid time off and volunteering trips offsite, whereas unpaid time off to volunteer has more of a negative impact.”
Employers that behave philanthropically show staff that they care and are making a difference, whether on a larger scale or in their local community. Indeed, one way of helping the latter is to give to local schools, sports clubs and groups, as employees will be able to directly see the impact.
James Moir, chief executive officer of Easyfundraising, explains: “Raising money for charity through events and taking time out to volunteer makes people happy, and happier people are more productive. This can boost retention and attraction levels.”
Maral Gholami, colleague experience manager at Personal Group, adds: “If employers had charitable work and volunteering as their engagement approach, it would create motivation, a sense of belonging and overall higher performance. It gives a sense of satisfaction and is more meaningful if initiated by an employer.”
Effectiveness of volunteering schemes
Employers can look at participation levels and ask for feedback to see how volunteering schemes are being received by staff. Questions, such as what scheme they would prefer, can help them to glean employees’ views. Employers can also take steps to ascertain the effectiveness of charitable and volunteering initiatives on employee attraction and retention.
“It might be worth advertising charity initiatives online or in job adverts to see if attraction levels are lifted,” says Velnoskey. “Employers should additionally be thoughtful about who they are, whether they are authentic to their identity and what issues they commit to support. Employees want to see them follow through on their promises. Organisations should look into what their staff care about and make sure they feel connected.”
When employers offer opportunities and benefits for employees to give back, they are increasing the likelihood of this happening, adds Nadin.
“Encouraging this kind of behaviour helps employees to feel like what they do matters and enhances feelings of belonging and purpose, which boosts motivation, engagement and productivity,” he says.
By providing choose and a range of charity initiatives for their workforce, as well as examining take-up and engagement, employers may find that employees feel more connected to the organisation and that motivation, attraction and retention levels are, therefore, higher.
