Tag Archive for: Employee engagement

Here are the top ways corporate volunteer grants help increase employee engagement.

How Corporate Volunteer Grants Increase Employee Engagement

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Employee engagement is generally defined as the emotional and functional commitment an employee has to achieving the mission of the organization. At most companies, there’s a lot of lip service paid to making sure employees are engaged. But have you ever wondered why? Have you thought about strategies companies can use to increase employee engagement?

One of the most effective ways to increase employee engagement is through corporate volunteerism—more specifically, volunteer grants.

We’ll outline the basics around employee engagement and volunteer grants in this article. Let’s get started!

These are the basics of employee engagement.

Basic Facts About Employee Engagement

To better understand employee engagement, we turned to Dale Carnegie Training, which has done extensive research into the topic. A few key insights include:

  1. When an employee is disengaged, there is a high likelihood that this individual will seek employment elsewhere.
  2. 71% of employees are not fully engaged.
  3. Companies with engaged employees outperform other companies by about 202%.

When employees feel a strong connection to their company, they are likely to be more engaged and less likely to leave. Disengaged employees tend to view their job as nothing more than a paycheck.

One of the ways your company can encourage employee engagement is through employee engagement software. If you’re going to put a lot of effort into your engagement strategy, it’s important to choose the right solution that encourages employee participation in several of your company-sponsored programs.

Read on to learn more about what to look for in an employee engagement software solution!

Here are some ideas you can use to incorporate corporate volunteer grants and employee engagement.

One of Our Top Employee Engagement Ideas: Volunteer Grants

So, how do you engage your employees? First, you should be aware of four traits that engaged employees exhibit:

  1. They are inspired.
  2. They are confident.
  3. They are enthused.
  4. They are empowered.

While there is a wide array of actions a company can take to help its employees become more engaged, we’ll discuss one very important action in this article: corporate volunteer grants.

Corporate volunteer grants are a type of corporate giving program that encourages employees to volunteer in the communities in which they live and work.

Corporate volunteer grants are a type of corporate giving program that encourages employees to volunteer in the communities in which they live and work. Employers provide monetary grants to eligible nonprofits whenever an employee takes time to volunteer.

These grants are generally paid out in two ways:

  1. A set amount per hour of volunteering (e.g., $10 per hour, with a minimum of 10 hours)
  2. A set rate once a certain volunteer threshold has been reached (e.g., $250 once an employee has volunteered 20 hours)

Of course, it’s important to remember that these payment structures vary from company to company. But when employees understand their company’s guidelines and are actively encouraged to participate in their volunteer grant program, that becomes a huge revenue stream for nonprofits.

How can volunteer grants increase employee engagement?

It has also been shown that employers who offer volunteer grants and other volunteer programs and encourage participation in them are more likely to have employees with the same shared sense of philanthropy.

Employees are proud to work for a company that involves itself in the community and are more likely to bring a good name to your business via volunteerism.

Here's how corporate volunteer grants can increase employee engagement.

Beyond corporate volunteer grants, offering opportunities for individual employees to volunteer (like paid time off for volunteer days) can also increase employee engagement.

There are many statistics that back up the idea that workplace giving and volunteer programs can boost engagement. Need some numbers?

  • A study by Dale Carnegie surveyed 1,500 employees and found that 54% of employees who were proud of their company’s contributions to society were engaged.
  • A Lloyd Morgan survey of 50,000 employees showed that by increasing employee engagement levels, organizations could expect an 87% reduction in employees’ probability of departure.
  • A Deloitte survey suggests that 61% of millennials who rarely volunteer would still consider a company’s commitment to giving back to the community when evaluating job opportunities.

Offering volunteer grants and other volunteering opportunities can boost productivity, make employees happier, and increase their tenure with your company.

Group Volunteer Activities

Another good method of increasing employee engagement is to encourage group volunteerism.

Group volunteerism increases camaraderie amongst employees who may not usually interact with each other. It also increases employee engagement by producing a shared sense of purpose among coworkers.

Some companies take it a step further by providing grants when teams of employees volunteer together. It’s a great way for companies to support the organizations that employees are passionate about.

When companies implement programs like corporate volunteer grants and group volunteer activities, the most immediate benefit is that a local nonprofit receives both donations and time from individuals who deeply care about their causes. However, corporate volunteerism can also help boost employee engagement by producing a shared sense of purpose among employees and between themselves and the company.

Here's employee engagement software that can help you approve more volunteer grants.

Employee Engagement Software

While corporate volunteerism means finding opportunities for your team to volunteer together, as well as providing additional monetary grants to nonprofits, it can be challenging to track all of the volunteer hours and grant requests that come through.

If you’re looking for a way to streamline your company’s volunteer opportunities and grants, consider investing in employee engagement software.

This type of software helps bring your team together and promotes an engaged company culture.

For example, by using employee engagement software to manage your volunteer program, you’ll be able to:

  • Create custom volunteer events.
  • Find local opportunities for employees to participate in.
  • Review and approve volunteer grant requests.

When you streamline your process for tracking volunteer opportunities and grant requests, you’ll make it easier for your employees to participate in these activities. Additionally, you can easily track your progress and have a better picture of the impact you’re making.

Here are additional corporate volunteer grant and employee engagement resources.

Additional Volunteering & Employee Engagement Resources

It’s clear that corporate volunteer grants can increase employee engagement. Why not look into other ways you can keep your employees happy, productive, and fulfilled?

Here are some additional resources below:

Learn more about corporate volunteer grants with our guide!

This is a basic guide about how you can use corporate giving to increase employee engagement at your company.

Increase Employee Engagement with Corporate Giving

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The importance of employee engagement, which is defined as the emotional and functional commitment an employee has to their organization, cannot be overstated. According to Gallup, companies with engaged employees outperform those without by up to 202%.

As we discuss in another article, engaged employees are also happier, stay with companies longer, and are more philanthropically minded.

While the benefits are clear, employee engagement is a struggle for most companies, with over 71% of employees reporting that they are not fully engaged.

One effective way your company can increase employee engagement is through corporate giving. When companies offer accessible ways for employees to get involved in philanthropic endeavors, whether that’s through matching gifts, corporate volunteerism, or other forms of nonprofit support, employees will be more likely to participate. This in turn boosts their engagement level.

In this article, we’ll discuss some basics of employee engagement and dive into how you can use corporate giving programs to increase your employees’ engagement. Let’s get started.

Here are the key drivers of employee engagement.

Three Key Drivers of Employee Engagement

It’s said that employees don’t leave companies; they leave people, and it’s true. Many of the reasons employees claim they aren’t engaged in their company have to do with people.

Let’s take a look at these statistics and the key drivers behind employee engagement:

Here are the three key drivers of employee engagement.

  1. Employees’ relationships with their direct managers: 80% of employees who were dissatisfied with their direct manager were disengaged.
  2. Employees’ belief in senior leadership: 70% of employees who lack confidence in the abilities of senior leadership are not fully engaged.
  3. Employees’ pride in working for the company: 54% of employees who are proud of their company’s contributions to society are engaged.

Offering corporate giving programs can have a positive impact on all three drivers of engagement. When leadership takes an interest in corporate philanthropy and makes a point to focus on how the company can help the community, employees tend to view this in a positive light.

Here's how you can increase employee engagement at your company.

How Companies Can Increase Employee Engagement

There are many strategies companies can use to increase employee engagement. Dale Carnegie highlights five great reasons to do so, and we’ve added a few ideas that our own research has shown enhances employee engagement:

  1. Senior leadership must articulate a clear vision to all employees. Without a clear goal, employees will not know what they’re working toward.
  2. Employees should be encouraged to openly communicate and influence the company’s vision with their input.
  3. Direct managers should foster healthy relationships with their employees.
  4. Senior leadership should continuously demonstrate that employees have an impact on their work environment.
  5. Managers should show employees that they are valued as true contributors, giving them a sense of empowerment.
  6. Managers should organize and encourage team volunteerism in communities as a way of giving back and encouraging social interaction outside the office.
  7. Companies should give back to local nonprofits. Corporate giving programs, like matching gift programs and volunteer grants, are a great way for corporations to support organizations that employees care about.

Management and senior leadership should take a hands-on approach to encouraging employees to engage with these opportunities at their company. Now that we’ve covered the basics of employee engagement, let’s jump into corporate giving specifically.

This is how you can use corporate philanthropy to boost your employee engagement levels.

Using Corporate Philanthropy to Increase Employee Engagement

Keeping employees engaged and helping the community at the same time seems like a pretty great deal, right? That’s why many companies are investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to help improve the communities in which their employees live and work.

One major component of CSR is corporate philanthropy, and within that, there are several corporate giving programs companies can offer. When employees participate in those programs, this enhances their view of the company and gives them an opportunity to help nonprofit organizations that they care about.

In order to boost employee engagement, companies can:

This is how companies can increase employee engagement using corporate giving programs.

  1. Offer matching gift programs. Nearly two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies offer a matching gift program that makes employees’ charitable contributions go twice as far. Matching gift programs help engage employees by showing them that the company not only encourages donating, but takes part in it as well. Employees can feel proud knowing their employer gives back.
  2. Encourage volunteerism. Whether a company offers paid time off for employees to volunteer or encourages employees to team up and participate in fundraising events, employee engagement can skyrocket when volunteerism is part of a company’s philanthropic culture. Allowing employees to band together to better the community helps them feel like the company supports them and will boost their dedication.
  3. Offer volunteer grants. Volunteer grants are donations that companies make to nonprofits after an employee has volunteered for a certain amount of time. Volunteer grants demonstrate a company’s commitment to helping worthy causes and instills a shared sense of philanthropy among employees, boosting engagement and satisfaction.

When companies support the causes their employees care about, this helps strengthen the relationship between not just the company and its employees, but also between the company and the nonprofits they help. All of these effects come together to create a positive reputation for the company, happy employees, and a better community.

This is how you can implement and maintain your corporate giving program as you focus on employee engagement.

How to Implement or Enhance Your Corporate Giving Program

When it comes to corporate giving, managing your program can be overwhelming. After all, if your company offers a matching gift or volunteer grant program, you’ll need to track each employee donation and volunteer hour, as well as the requests that come through for matches or grants.

Corporate giving software for companies is an effective option that many corporations already take advantage of. These solutions allow companies to manage workplace giving, matching gifts, volunteer opportunities, and more.

For example, the right corporate giving solution equips your company to:

  • Set up and view employee donations, such as automatic payroll deductions.
  • Review and/or automatically approve matching gift requests.
  • List volunteer opportunities for employees.
  • Track employee volunteer hours.
  • Manage and approve volunteer grant requests.

Whether you’re setting up a new corporate giving program or trying to build on what you already have, corporate giving software can help you get the most out of your program. After all, the easier it is for employees to log in and participate, the more engagement you’ll get in the long run.

If you’re looking to get started with corporate giving software to improve and better manage your company’s giving programs, Millie is a fantastic solution to consider. Working with this software provider will allow you to incorporate all of the recommendations above and begin seeing real results as soon as possible.

This is why corporate giving programs are a win-win for everyone when it comes to employee engagement.

Conclusion: Why Corporate Giving Programs are a Win-Win for Everyone

In summary, there are many benefits of incorporating giving programs like matching gifts, volunteer grants, and volunteerism. These include:

  • Employees getting to experience an enjoyable and rewarding team-building event.
  • The corporation giving back to the community.
  • The corporation’s reputation in the community being enhanced through positive press coverage and other channels.
  • The nonprofits receiving volunteer support and/or additional funding.

While there are a multitude of ways to increase employee engagement, utilizing corporate giving programs can be one of the most beneficial options for employees, companies, and nonprofits alike.

Here are some additional employee engagement and corporate giving resources.

Additional Employee Engagement & Corporate Giving Resources

If you’re interested in learning more about corporate giving and employee engagement, we’ve compiled some excellent resources for you:

Find out how to drive corporate philanthropy at your company!

Here's why employee engagement is important.

8 Results-Driven Reasons Employee Engagement is Important

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Andrew Carnegie once said, “You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.”

Though Carnegie wasn’t explicitly talking about employee engagement, this quote perfectly illustrates how vital it is to engage your employees. This way, they will be happier and perform to the best of their abilities.

Unfortunately, employee engagement is sometimes an afterthought. However, engaging employees should be practiced at all levels of the business hierarchy and cultivated on a regular basis.

Studies show that less than a third of American workers are engaged at their jobs, so there is definitely room for improvement. But why exactly does employee engagement matter?

Here are eight reasons why employee engagement is important to your company.

Employee engagement can help your cause marketing.

1. Employee engagement can help your cause marketing.

If your company takes up a cause marketing campaign throughout the year or during a specific time period, having engaged employees is a must.

Cause marketing campaigns occur when companies partner with nonprofits to help raise money for those nonprofit causes as part of their everyday business activities. For example, a restaurant chain might encourage its customers to donate to an organization committed to ending child hunger.

Here are the benefits of having engaged employees:

  • They can help boost your company’s cause marketing efforts.
  • They like to participate in events and volunteer with nonprofits.
  • They enjoy being part of a solution.

Employees who are engaged at work will be more than willing to help out when the company they work for pursues a noble cause.

Better employee engagement means better productivity.

2. Better engagement means better productivity.

According to Gallup, corporations whose employees are engaged perform more than 200% better than companies whose employees are not.

When employees are engaged at work, they feel a connection with the company. They believe the work they’re doing is important and therefore work harder.

Corporations with engaged employees perform better than companies without engaged employees by more than 200%.

As Gallup notes, lack of employee engagement costs American businesses anywhere from $450 to $550 billion a year when workplace accidents, absenteeism, and larger healthcare costs are factored in. This massive chunk of money could significantly shrink if more companies emphasized employee engagement.

Employee engagement reduces the risk of employees quitting.

3. Engaged employees are less likely to quit.

If you’re completely happy and content in a relationship, why would you break up with your significant other?

You probably wouldn’t.

The same principle goes for employees’ relationships with their employers. In fact, according to a Dale Carnegie Training study, the Bureau of National Affairs reported that $11 billion is lost annually due to employee turnover.

But, if the members of your team are engaged and feel appreciated, they will be less inclined to look for other employment opportunities. Fostering a culture of employee engagement can be the key to reducing turnover rates and boosting employee retention.

If employees feel needed and wanted when they go into work each day, the connections they form with the company and other employees are not easily eroded. By cultivating and maintaining these relationships, you reduce the risk that your employees will quit.

Employee engagement leads to positivity.

4. Engaged employees are positive.

Workers who feel disconnected and disengaged are more likely to have negative things to say about your company. If a disengaged employee leaves or is fired, they may vent their frustrations on any number of social forums and sites.

Because negative feedback tends to be magnified more than positive, your company’s reputation and credibility could be damaged due to a single disengaged, disgruntled employee.

Conversely, engaged employees are positive and have enthusiastic things to say about their work. Whether they are bragging about their job to customers or telling friends and family how much they enjoy working, employees who are engaged will help spread good news about your company and improve your overall reputation.

Employee engagement leads to satisfaction.

5. Employees feel satisfied when they’re engaged.

Employee engagement isn’t just beneficial for your company. Employees who are engaged at work feel satisfied with their careers and are generally happier individuals than employees who aren’t engaged.

It’s important to remember that boosting employee engagement isn’t simply about creating more productive, robotic employees and increasing profits. Employee engagement is advantageous for both parties and should be treated as a two-way street.

One of the biggest advantages to increased employee engagement is that you’ll be surrounded by happy workers who enjoy coming to work nearly every day.

Employee engagement leads to better communication.

6. Engaged employees are better communicators.

Employees who care about their jobs are more effective communicators with coworkers, leaders, and customers alike. Disengaged workers may mindlessly go through their day without remembering any of the conversations that they had (if they had any at all).

Engaged employees, however, engage each other in stimulating discussions that could turn into productive brainstorming sessions. Incorporating a culture of employee engagement can not only help employees connect with one another, but also help create new innovations and ideas.

Employee engagement is important because it leads to more creativity.

7. Engaged employees are more creative.

All of the conversations that spring up within your company because of increased employee engagement have the potential to make your employees more creative.

Disengaged employees rarely produce new solutions or bring innovative ideas to the table; they have little interest in contributing to the bigger picture or being creative with their job.

Engaged employees, on the other hand, find creativity to be essential. They thrive on knowing they can find new ways to complete tasks and projects and are always looking for fresh takes on old ideas.

Employee engagement makes employees more philanthropic.

8. Engaged employees are more philanthropically minded.

Employees who are engaged at work want to know that the company they work for cares about the community. If the company encourages volunteerism or offers matching gifts, engaged employees are more likely to take advantage of these opportunities to donate their time and money toward worthy causes.

One way to demonstrate that you care about important causes is by investing in workplace giving software that makes it easy for your employees to participate in your giving programs.

A workplace giving platform lets you do things like:

  • Manage employee donations and matching gift requests.
  • Track employee volunteer hours and volunteer grant requests.
  • Arrange automatic payroll deductions so employees can donate a portion of their paycheck to a nonprofit of their choice.

By creating an atmosphere of corporate philanthropy, you’ll not only help employees contribute to nonprofit organizations, but also help them feel more engaged and fulfilled at work. And when it’s easy for them to take part in workplace giving, you’ll get more out of the programs you’ve already invested in.

Here are additional resources about why employee engagement is important.

Additional Employee Engagement Resources

By creating an atmosphere of employee engagement, you’ll not only boost productivity and profits, but also help your employees reach their full potential and look forward to coming to work each day.

Looking for more engagement strategies? Check out the resources below:

Learn more about the importance of employee engagement with our essential guide!

Matching Gifts Employee Engagement

The Impact of Matching Gift Programs on Employee Engagement

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Philanthropy has become a core value of many American corporations. CEOs and corporate leaders see philanthropy as a major part of their commitment to society as well as a valuable benefit for their employees. It’s a way to give something back to employees and support causes that are important to them.

One of the biggest ways that corporate philanthropy manifests itself is in the  form of matching gift programs.

However, an important consideration for implementing, maintaining, or expanding a matching gift program should be its impact on employee engagement. Matching Gifts and Employee Engagement

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement is typically defined as the extent to which employee commitment, both emotional and intellectual, exists relative to accomplishing the work, mission and vision of the organization.

Engaged employees work with passion and feel a strong connection to their company. Companies with high levels of engagement also see higher levels of employee retention.

Find out more about why employee engagement is so important.

Unfortunately the converse is also true. Disengaged employees feel distant from their organization and generally do not view their connection to their employers as anything more than a job.

They are less likely to commit time and effort to help the organization succeed. Studies show that disengaged employees are less productive than engaged employees.

A key driver of employee engagement has been reported to be an employee’s perception of the organization’s values. Without a positive feeling about the values of the organization, employee engagement will likely remain low.

At a time when employee engagement is on the decline and corporations are depicted as greedy and insensitive, a well-designed matching gift program can help companies show their employees that they care and have shared values. While this is not the sole driver of engagement, it is an important contributing factor.

Check out these companies that do a great job engaging employees through their corporate giving programs.

Common Themes of Effective Matching Gift Programs

  1. They are easily understood and communicated to employees.The Three Keys to Designing Effective Employee Matching Gift Programs
  2. They are easy for the corporation to administer.
  3. They are flexible enough to be utilized by employees in their desire to support nonprofits and causes of their choosing.

Check out these best practices for matching gifts!

An alternative approach is to construct the matching gift program in a way that garners and encourages support for causes that the organization chooses to champion. With this approach, corporate values are emphasized and reinforced for employees who share those values.

Conversely it can have less of a positive impact on employee engagement as it limits their choices to areas that the company values. This would be the case where a corporation focuses its matching gifts program exclusively in areas like education, for example.

Learn more about matching gift and other corporate giving programs.

Companies seeking to positively impact employee engagement should consider implementing a matching gift program that is broad in scope, easy to communicate, and demonstrates the shared values of the company and employees.

For other ways to increase employee engagement, check out these best practices.