Employee Engagement and Workplace Giving: Trends and Opportunities

“Align your workplace giving programs with your employee engagement programs,” says Scott Black, America’s Charities Director of Field Operation – Northern US. This statement was the overall theme and the thread that brought the 2011 Membership Assembly at Georgetown University to a close on Tuesday, May 10.

Black lead a discussion with Kristy Hensel, Director, Corporate Relations, Boy Scouts of America National Council and Michael Carren, Vice President and Director, Employee Engagement and Financial Education, JPMorgan Chase/JPMorgan Chase Foundation highlighting employee engagement and workplace giving programs.

Organizations like JPMorgan Chase and Boy Scouts of America National Council recognize that workplace-giving campaigns are essential components of their employee engagement initiatives.

Kristy and Michael’s core line of business may be completely different but their employee engagement work is very similar. Each finding ways to effectively and efficiently communicate with employees, keeping employees involved in the community through volunteerism, giving through workplace-giving programs, building relationships with corporate donors and increasing awareness of issues and/or organizations.

So many of these components of are critical to the overall program, but nothing seems to stand out as much as workplace giving. Workplace giving stands out as the most unique of all of the programs – for the simple fact that employees spend most of their time at work and are the most captive audiences.

Through a campaign, employers can:
• Build a sense of community among the workforce.
• Demonstrate that the organization is being a good corporate citizen and help improve the image in the community and among stakeholders.
• Provide employees with team building experiences.
• Improve employee morale, relations and retention.

And from all of these points, employees:
• Have a sense of helping others.
• Are exposed to an array of charities and services those charities offer in the community.
• Have the ease and convenience of giving to charities of interest through payroll deduction.

It is important to note that companies are not in the employee engaging business alone. Charities must be in the “solution business” and work with organizations to engage employees and provide opportunities to learn, serve and use their expertise. Organizations like the Boy Scouts of America National Council recognize that workplace giving is about the donor. Click here to see clips of Kristy Hensel.

Is There a Place for Social Media in Workplace Giving?
Connecting employees to charities is a critical part of engaging employees. Social media outlet provides a connection to issues to employees.

Facebook and Twitter (and other social media outlets) get people involved and gives employers the ability to equip donors with the information that is needed to make a well-informed decision about causes they want to support. Click here to see clips of Michael Carren.