If you pay close attention, you will hear a growing disagreement between companies, employees, and the communities they serve. While they are bound together by a mutual interest in meaningful engagement, employees and community-serving nonprofits are begging for a relationship reboot. Corporate partners appear wed to historic practices that no longer resonate. How did a good thing go bad?
Companies have long been the backbone of vibrant, healthy communities. Company leaders recognize the essential business connection between customers, employees, and the community. From local softball leagues to community hospitals, corporate generosity stems from this symbiotic relationship and authentic goodwill.
In the early 1990s, companies began to realize the important role employees could play in extending their goodwill. Bedrock Atlanta companies, such as The Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Accenture, and IBM, spearheaded this trend by hosting large-scale volunteer events at local schools, food banks, and parks across the country. Corporate volunteerism took root inside company cultures, boosting employee loyalty, productivity, and overall workplace satisfaction. The benefits were infectious. According to goBeyondProfit, a Georgia-based business initiative that tracks all facets of corporate generosity, including activities like volunteerism, nearly 80% of companies have now embraced volunteerism as a core part of their culture.
However, year after year, data tells the story that employees are placing company volunteerism at the bottom of their wish list. Combine that with under-resourced nonprofit partners who share the view that large-scale volunteer days may be causing more harm than good, and you have a growing problem.
What’s influencing the trend among employees? Perhaps it’s the heightened ability for individuals to self-activate that causes less demand for company-coordinated activities, or perhaps the external stressors in the world leave the workforce depleted,…
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