This time each spring businesses and organizations begin rallying their teams to take part in one of the most recognized and popular volunteer events of the year: Earth Day. Created in the 1970s to build global support for environmental protection efforts, the holiday grew into one of the world’s largest annual civic events and a […]
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This time each spring businesses and organizations begin rallying their teams to take part in one of the most recognized and popular volunteer events of the year: Earth Day.
Created in the 1970s to build global support for environmental protection efforts, the holiday grew into one of the world’s largest annual civic events and a permanent presence on corporate calendars, where employees come together to clean up communities, plant trees or take part in carbon reduction campaigns.
Why do businesses do this?
Because providing your employees the chance to take part in community service projects will have a broad-ranging impact not only on the outdoor environment, but on your workplace environment as well.
The benefits of creating corporate and employee volunteerism opportunities are numerous — it’s why company leaders should be embedding community service programs into their organizations so employees can engage, volunteer and give back not just once a year, but year-round — and on company time.
For one, a community service program helps build and retain the team needed to thrive.
Reputation matters when recruiting talent to your organization, and now more than ever employees want to work for employers that share their values and promote a culture of good corporate social responsibility.
The workplace is no longer just somewhere to pick up a paycheck, but to take part in making a genuine difference.
Community service initiatives have also proven to boost employee morale, productivity and comradery. They work great as team-building exercises that break down workplace silos and provide leaders a chance to engage with their employees and better understand their goals, motivations and concerns.
For years my colleagues have worked hard to ensure our firm maintained a strong presence in the communities where our clients and employees live and go to work.
We’ve built long-standing relationships with organizations that better the lives of many — including initiatives that focus on veterans and children — because they match our values and provide avenues to fulfill our mission as a community-driven employer.
Through these initiatives we were able to build a culture of teamwork, giving back and positive vibes in each of our offices. We showed our employees that you don’t have to choose between contributing to the company’s or community’s success by working here — you can do both.
The challenge we faced with our program was that employees loved community work — and everyone wanted a chance to get involved. But personal commitments and a lack of time outside of work hours made it difficult for some folks to participate in a number of our community activities.
And so we decided to take our program one step further by providing employees paid time during their regular workday to participate in volunteer work they may not otherwise have time for.
This paid volunteer time and our community service program allowed our team to explore new passions and support causes important to them and their families.
Cindy Kretzmer is the director of community service engagement at Johnson Brunetti Retirement & Investment Specialists.
