Every Employee Volunteering Program deserves an appreciation of its people and teams.
Also, a showcase of the positive outcome for beneficiaries.
Celebrate People. Celebrate Impact.
These tips will reward you greatly both in the short and long term.
Reward Those Who Give Freely
Celebrate Top Performers among the Volunteers, 3-5 (in a medium org) or 7-10 (large org) employees. A top volunteer may not be excellent at work (core function). There may be many good volunteers, but some will stand out. Create a criterion before you strategize for the Employee Volunteering Program. Partner with Internal Communication, call out top performers during a Town Hall or with an email to all employees, and display their photos on your digital screens.
Celebrate Leader Involvement
Do not forget to appreciate the role of the manager. Not all managers may be proactively encouraging their employees. It is important to thank those who do publicly. For those who do not, try to pursue a conversation offline. Line Managers need to be made aware and encouraged to acknowledge the specific strengths of their team members. An email to managers makes a big difference whether you meet offline or not.
An appreciative personal email from the CEO or a key leader will go a long way. An appreciative personal email from the CEO or a key leader will go a long way. Most employees look up to their leaders. Any encouragement is a big emotional incentive to do more for the company. Reach out to key leaders to appreciate the volunteer in a joint forum of volunteers or through an encouraging email.
Similarly, in the case of the individual volunteer, appreciate volunteer teams too. Highlight strengths that enabled them to be impactful.
Do Not Forget The Nonprofit
Include your trusted nonprofit partner in your celebrations. Slot them into a Town Hall or host an exclusive session with volunteers and supportive leaders. Get the beneficiaries to showcase the outcome. It’s always credible when beneficiaries endorse the work done by Employee Volunteers.
Get Social - Create Employee Advocates
Rally your Volunteer team to spread the word on Social. Create posts for them whenever necessary. Highlight the opportunities the organization provided to its employees and the work done by the nonprofit partner. Videos or quotes by employees, if shared on personal networks, bring greater visibility and appreciation for employees, organizations, and nonprofits.
Report Facts, Tell Stories, Use Data
Most companies record output but often fail to showcase the outcomes externally or internally. Reporting is necessary, and so is celebrating Impact at all levels. It keeps the spirit alive for your campaigns to keep it going. Most Volunteers forget about results, and fewer ask. Even for one-time events involving planting saplings, matching programs that donate to NGOs (employee hours) require sharing with all employees. Necessary when a significant amount collected produces a tangible change.
For example, an event had over 100 employees who spent over five hours at the NGO site. They organized various activities for children. More than $10,000, which was over INR 6,40,000, was collected. The cash provided a brick-walled space, including chairs, tables, and a few laptops for a computer center. When the volunteers heard about it, it went viral internally, encouraging more employees to fund the computer center. Today, those children are moving to mainstream schools at a higher rate. So much from a one-off event.
Word of Mouth is still the best medium to communicate. Social Media (Communication), or digital word of mouth, has taken it to a new level.
When we showcase change using internal channels, it develops a sense of pride in employees. It inspires some previous non-doers to contribute and be part of the change.
Showcasing Impact affects employees, leaders, nonprofit partners, customers, and other organizations in the community. Stories require telling, and change-makers need to be appreciated.
Building a Team, Inspiring Hearts and Minds, and Celebrating People and Impact, will always be a need to develop and sustain a successful Employee Volunteering Program.
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