What supporting a charity means to employees
In an era of high staff attrition rates, leaders recognise the importance of offering staff more than just a job. Job satisfaction and company loyalty is influenced by the fulfilment a staff member experiences through their company's reputation and demonstrated values.
Corporate Employee Engagement in a cause that has relevance to the workforce is a valuable way to enhance pride and motivation.
Cavill + Co's report "PassionPeopleTM" 2004 provides some interesting insights into Corporate Community Engagement and you can find the full report here.
The following points of interest are taken from that report.
The results are clear - getting employees involved in causes does positively impact their sense of pride and motivation. And most importantly for companies... it positively impacts employer choice and retention. (p3)
Companies wanting to attract and retain good staff in an aging, shrinking workforce can gain a competitive edge by supporting community or charitable causes that give their staff opportunities for involvement. (p4)
"PassionPeopleTM" found employees strongly believed companies should support causes and charities, with 78 per cent disagreeing with the statement that it was not the job of businesses to involve themselves in the community. (p5)
When asked "what type of causes/charities would you like your company to support", children's charities ranked highest. (p9)
A massive 41% (of employees) said they'd be willing to earn less if their job provided the chance to make a difference - confirming that fulfilment is more important than money to over a third of employees.
83% of respondents said "All other factors being equal, I would rather work for a company that supported causes/charities." (p11)
People who would feel proud to work for a company that offers significant support to a cause/charity are more committed to their employers than the overall sample, indicating that there is a relationship between company commitment and feeling proud to work for a company that supports causes. (p16)
Business must be run at a profit else it will die. But when anyone tries to run a business solely for profit - then also the business must die, for it no longer has a reason for existence.
Henry Ford
