Did you know less than 35% of employees are engaged at work? Engaging employees improves workplace culture, increases employee retention, and boosts profitability. These benefits mean that companies are looking for ways to improve engagement. Increasing engagement requires a comprehensive plan. However, companies often miss a crucial strategy when creating an engagement plan. You might be surprised to learn that you can improve employee engagement with workplace giving and volunteering.
That’s right! Employees are more engaged when they volunteer through their employer and have opportunities to give to causes that matter to them.
Why is volunteering important for employees?
There is a proven connection between volunteering and improved mental well-being. Studies have shown that we are momentarily happy when we receive a good deed; however, if we are the giver of a good act, we are more likely to enjoy longer-term happiness. Additionally, studies found that the pandemic has increased depression, loneliness, and sadness. When team members show up to work, they are already feeling overwhelmed and are looking for ways to improve their mental health. The Cleveland Clinic reported that volunteering helps to reduce blood pressure, lessens depression, lowers stress levels, and creates greater happiness and satisfaction. In UnitedHealth Group’s 2013 Health and Volunteering Study, 64 percent of employees said volunteering with work colleagues strengthened relationships.
How can employees engage in volunteering?
Given all the benefits of volunteering, you may be wondering how to get started. Fear not! We have three ways to get started with employee volunteering opportunities!
- Teams, departments or the entire organization can choose to volunteer as a group on National Volunteer Day in April, Community Service Day on MLK Day, or our own United Way Day of Action on June 21st. You can coordinate a full day of volunteering by partnering with the city government for a park-clean-up day or contacting a local Main Street organization to help with a downtown decorating project. Call the local schools to explore their needs or contact one of our Program Partners to find out how they could use a group of volunteers.
- Volunteer as a group during a team meeting or team building offsite. Organizations like Circle U Food Pantry are ideal for a small team to volunteer for a few hours.
- Employers can also offer a couple of volunteer days per year for employees to volunteer in their community independently.
Why do employee workplace giving programs matter?
According to Charities.org, the largest source of charitable giving in the U.S. is from individuals. About $5 billion of that individual giving is generated from people who donate through workplace giving. That’s a lot of small donations from millions of people that, when combined, make a significant impact on communities. However, does workplace giving benefit employees and employers, not just the charity or the community? The answer is yes. Workplace charitable giving improves our mental health and employee engagement too. Workplace giving directly correlates to employee satisfaction, retention, and employee engagement. Research supports those employees drawn to organizations with charitable giving or volunteer programs in place.
Benefits of Employee Workplace Giving Campaign:
- Educate employees about the local challenges we face.
- Increases employee engagement as they unite to solve local challenges.
- Provide safe in-person and virtual giving opportunities that employees can feel good about.
- Keep Corporate Social Responsibility top of mind.
- Improves company talent attraction efforts.
How can employers offer workplace giving?
Become a corporate partner with United Way of Whitewater Valley. We can help you meet your social responsibility objectives, engage your employees, and express your enthusiasm to make a difference in Wayne and Union counties. Your contributions can go to a specific effort – for example, childhood success or access to health. Our goal is to make sure your corporation’s gift helps our program partners support our residents most urgent needs.
As a corporate partner, we encourage you to host an annual Employee Workplace Giving Campaign. The money raised during the campaign supports a large variety of local nonprofits and resources to help change lives in our community. The needs of Wayne and Union Counties are complex and interconnected, and no one nonprofit or program can fix it all. Together, our nonprofit partners strengthen our community so no one slips through the cracks.
Whether you want to make a one-time donation, make a one-time matched donation, or host a workplace campaign, we are ready to partner with you. When you’re a corporate partner with United Way of Whitewater Valley, you’ll be in good company. Check out our list of local corporate partner companies on our website’s Corporate Partner page.
Are You Ready To Improve Employee Engagement with Workplace Giving and Volunteering?
We work hard to make improving employee engagement with workplace giving and volunteering as easy as possible with our Workplace Campaigns . We have step-by-step guides, support materials and more. If you are ready to increase engagement, retain employees, and improve the mental health of your employees contact us today at 765-962-2700.
Improve employee engagement with workplace giving and volunteering by getting to know more about our program partners working in our four focus areas: childhood success, youth success, economic mobility, and access to health. Read more about their stories here, or sign up for our newsletter to learn more about what we do at United Way of Whitewater Valley.
