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Unlocking the Power of Corporate Social Responsibility:
Boosting Employee Engagement and Fostering a Culture of Togetherness.
By Brinda Odedra
introduction
Now more than ever, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to shift their attention towards their social responsibility and prioritise CSR to stay relevant not only for their consumers but also their employees. Discover key benefits that CSR initiatives offer your company.
Advantages of CSR go well beyond enhanced public image and brand positioning. Research suggests that CSR allows companies to attract talent, reduce employee turnover, improve job satisfaction, increases engagement, and reduces costs.
Work represents a considerable aspect of an average individual’s life; it is beyond just a paycheque and mere source of income like it used to be. As a result, people are becoming more mindful when making the decision to become affiliated with a certain organization. People understand that values, culture and benefits offered by an organization can affect the trajectory of their career and have a significant impact on their quality of life.
Venture 2 Impact has collaborated with a diverse range of individuals from tech companies across North America. We possess a deep understanding of what your employees truly value in the organizations they choose to align with. You can satisfy your employees’ needs all while it being even more beneficial for your organization.
Reduce Costs
Reducing operational costs through CSR may sound contradictory as companies typically need to allocate huge sums towards their CSR efforts. However, research suggests that the opposite is true, let’s get into the numbers. You can expect your revenue to go up by up to 20% when you invest in a CSR program and increase market value to investors by 4-6%. Furthermore, CSR programs are proven to increase productivity by up to 13%.
CSR saves you money in operational “black holes”, for example attrition or replacing employees. This is a huge cost for an organization of any size. The cost of replacing an entry-level employee is 30-50% of their annual salary, 150% for mid-level employees and 400% of their annual salary for an executive-level employee replacement. This makes CSR a risk mitigation and cost saving opportunity for companies.
60% of employees are likely to take a job with lower pay but better benefits and are 4 times more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. Millennials and Gen Z are more comfortable switching jobs that don’t fulfill their needs in comparison to previous generations, but the missing puzzle piece is that they are also willing to commit to an organization they feel connected to.
Opportunities to get involved in the company’s CSR initiatives is one way to build this deeper connection between the employee and the company. Investing in CSR is a better financial commitment as opposed to replacing employees that you’ve invested time, money, and resources into.
Appealing Company Culture
Corporate Social Responsibility is not only a vital element of company culture, but the two share a co-dependent relationship. Human beings value a sense of shared purpose, identity and belonging. Building a strong company culture can satisfy these needs.
It is important to have a clear sense of direction when it comes to directing your CSR efforts, nobody can solve all the problems that exist in our society at once. What does your company care about? Climate change, women’s rights, animal welfare, poverty alleviation, and direct your efforts in one of these directions. You will attract employees whose values are similarly aligned. Customers too will learn to associate your company with your CSR efforts and values overtime.
Focused CSR efforts open the doors to attract and retain the best talent in the industry. Prospective employees are more likely to accept a job offer with a company with whom their values are aligned. In addition, your focused CSR efforts should be authentic and trickle down throughout the business.
For example, if your CSR efforts are directed towards racial equality, this should reflect in your overall business strategy by recalibrating your diversity targets and employee training. On the other hand, if your focus is on climate action, then your organization could switch over to a hybrid or fully remote model to reduce carbon emissions from daily commute.
Team lunches, flexible work schedules and happy hours every Friday are great, but do they reflect company culture? Not exactly, this is where CSR comes in and you can get really specific with it.
CSR gives all stakeholders an opportunity to be a part of a meaningful work culture, allows employees to share causes beyond their job responsibilities and company profitability. “If half of your staff is involved in making donations to a local children’s home, aren’t they more involved in your business emotionally, almost as a family, than if they were simply carrying out their duties?” The opportunity to get involved in the company’s CSR efforts allows employees to form a deeper connection with the company and teammates, in turn satisfying their need for belonging.
Increase Engagement
Venture 2 Impact offers your employees the opportunity to connect with other employees within your organization that they wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance to explore skills that they don’t get to use in their field of work day-to-day in our Virtual Alliance Programs as well as In-person international projects.
Employees are able to have these experiences because their companies choose to intentionally invest in CSR whether it is through budgets allocated to virtual projects or donation matching opportunities to be able to participate in In-person projects such as our most popular program in Romania.
In-person projects give your employees the opportunity to be involved in something bigger than work while using their skills and expertise to do good in the world alongside other like minded volunteers from various companies.
These initiatives are a team building opportunity. They allow employees to work towards a common, more meaningful goal outside of their typical work environment. This can foster better relationships with colleagues, increase collaboration and engagement which in turn translates into better teamwork within the work environment and increased productivity.
Finally, CSR opportunities provide employees with a common sense of purpose that goes beyond day-to-day work responsibilities and milestones. Being involved in a CSR initiative with other like-minded co-workers can improve mood, and give a sense of reward and motivation to transfer the same enthusiasm in other areas of their life.
The Bottom Line
Providing your employees with opportunities to engage in CSR initiatives can lead to a host of benefits for your company. Not only does it increase employee engagement, motivation, productivity, and overall job satisfaction but it can also positively impact other areas such as reduced operational costs and improved company culture due to employee retention.
CSR initiatives are an opportunity to create a purpose-driven work environment that not only benefits your company by enhancing the brand image for your consumers but also improves the overall experience of your most important assets, your employees.