Workplace Volunteering Culture

A corporate volunteering program (CVP) is not only a great way for your business to give back, but it can also be a powerful tool for employee engagement. It’s a win-win-win strategy: good for employees, good for the community, and good for business.

Finding greater meaning and satisfaction at work

Gallup estimates that in the UK, employees who feel unengaged at work cost employers upwards of $64 billion every year. In the United States, that number jumps to $350 billion.

Here in Australia, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey found that employees who are more committed to their organisations put in 57% more effort on the job and are 87% less likely to resign.

A Macquarie Graduate School of Management study found that corporate volunteering leads to improved employee engagement, organisational commitment, job satisfaction and retention. Employees in a corporate volunteer program scored significantly higher than non-volunteers on all measures of engagement with their organisation, as well as on most measures of job satisfaction. They were also significantly more committed to remaining with the company than those who did not volunteer. The common theme in the study’s findings was the sense of meaningfulness that employees seek. The most important motivation to participate in corporate volunteering was “It makes my work more meaningful”.

Volunteering may also be key to engaging younger employees; a Deloitte survey found that millennials who frequently participate in workplace volunteering activities are more likely to be proud, loyal and satisfied employees, as compared to those who rarely or never volunteer.

Benefits to business and staff

For companies, the paybacks of a CVP are plentiful: a more committed and productive workforce; greater (and positive) brand recognition; reduced employee churn; a strengthened corporate culture; and a competitive advantage in terms of both attracting and retaining top talent.

For employees, volunteering can also present opportunities for personal and professional development. It can lead to new social connections and strengthen team bonds. Volunteering can also afford a wider view of the world, leading to greater open-mindedness, empathy and self-awareness, as well as the self-pride that comes with giving back.

Building a successful volunteer program

Ultimately, the main objective of any CVP should be to make a real and sustained impact in the communities your business operates in. Good program management will result in more effective outcomes, as well as greater employee participation rates. Successful programs rely on internal support, staff involvement, proper risk management and building meaningful relationships with your not-for-profit partners.

Redii’s employee recognition and reward program can help with the implementation of your CVP. Making it a part of your reward program will increase employee engagement with the program and also simplify program management in terms of communication, feedback and recognition for participation.

In order to engage employees and keep them involved consistently, volunteering programs must also be flexible so participation can easily fit around commitments. Having your CVP be a part of your Redii reward program lets you customise reward opportunities that suit your staff.

When effectively implemented and managed, with incentivising rewards for participation, a CVP will deliver untold returns for employees, business and the community.

Redii helps organisations increase employee engagement. Request a demo today.

Employee Engagement Strategy

6 ways to drive employee engagement

In this new financial year, employee engagement is front of mind for many businesses – as it should be. According to a LinkedIn survey on global job seeker trends, “an unsatisfying work culture or environment” is one of the top reasons employees jump ship.

Employee recognition and reward is the easiest way to improve engagement. Creating a culture of recognition brings to life your company values while highlighting the positive behaviours you want to promote. Here are some creative and effective ways to do it.

1.  Implement an employee recognition program

Company rewards create immediate engagement. Aligning your company values with a reward program offers your employees more than mere monetary gain. It shows them their contribution is seen and has an impact on business success. The secret is making your recognition program organic, creative and ongoing.

Redii’s employee recognition and reward software have more than 3,000 rewards to choose from, including local things to do such as restaurant vouchers, museum passes, attractions, experiences and getaways. Employees exchange points that are attached to each moment of recognition for tangible and memorable rewards.

2.  Encourage feedback and open forums

Another key way to make employees feel valued is to ensure they are heard. Create easy pathways for feedback and open forums where employees can voice their views. These may include:

• A feedback link on the intranet or in an employee newsletter.
• A monthly question (on the intranet, social media or another employee-communication channel) that invites discussion on key topics.
• Regular focus groups with a cross-section of your employees.
• Recognition and rewards that are created specifically for sharing feedback and offering innovative ideas.
• Training managers to seek out and handle feedback.

3.  Boost health and wellbeing programs

Businesses play an essential role in the health and well-being of their employees. They can be sources of stress and anxiety in people’s lives, which negatively impacts health, or they can be part of the cure.

Burnout, absenteeism and stress claims can all be reduced through sustainable health and wellbeing programs. What’s more, employee wellness programs are a great way to recognise and reward employees for their hard work. For those businesses already committed to an employee recognition program, including a wellbeing element can be as simple as adding extra rewards.

4. Foster collaboration

Many of today’s most successful companies are no longer hierarchical and top-down. Instead, they are collaborative and bottom-up. In order to attract and retain the best talent, businesses need to foster a collaborative, communicative culture. Ways to achieve this include:

• Ensuring all employees clearly understand the business vision and their role in it.
• Empowering employees to take ownership of the solutions for achieving outcomes.
• Treating all work groups, unions and contractors as respected partners – make sure everyone knows they have a role to play in your business’s success.

5. Promote flexible working conditions

Offering flexible work arrangements is an inexpensive perk and is often seen as a major employee benefit. Having flexible working schedules that allow employees to better balance their work and personal lives is a great way to reward and recognise them. This may be as simple as accommodating personal factors in their life, such as childcare or external commitments like volunteering, sports training or creative endeavours. A flexible environment might include offers of part-time work, job sharing, compressed or staggered working hours, and remote working.

6. Provide mentorship for employees

The sense of career development, practical training and support employees get from a mentoring program is one of the keys to improving employee engagement and retention. A study by Robert Walters looked at the value of mentoring for empowering women in the workplace and found that 94% of women believed it would help their career. Additionally, 14% of professionals had paid for mentoring and career coaching themselves. Being a mentor for employees can also be a powerful motivator for senior employees, as it offers them recognition and the opportunity to ‘give back’ in a meaningful way.

Redii helps organisations increase employee engagement, decrease attrition rates and become the best work environment they can be. Request a demo today.

Best Employee Recognition Software

Before researching the market to understand the best employee recognition software to meet your needs, you should start by asking yourself these questions so that when you kick off your search, you know what you are looking for and you’re clear on your ‘must haves’ and your ‘nice to haves’.

Ask yourself the following questions:

What’s your objective? Are you looking to reinforce behaviours or values you are seeing in your business? Are you wanting to create a culture of peer to peer recognition? Do you want to reduce the administrative burden of an existing manual program? Do you want to achieve consistency across your leadership team in terms of how they recognise their people?

Who’s the program for and where are they? Is this program for ALL of your employees? Is it open to part-time, contract or casual employees (we believe the answer to this should be yes by the way, great work and inspiring behaviour can come from any role type). Is your workforce globally diverse? Are ALL of your locations eligible and included in the program?

Access and upload. Do all of your employees exist in one place? Do they all have company email addresses? Are they are in your ERP, your payroll system or communications tool?

Must haves – what are yours? Do you want someone to manage the entire process from design to implementation? Do you want it to sync with your internal comms tool? Do you want to measure the prevalence of your values in all recognition?

Nice to haves – if the tool could do a few other things that would make your life easy, when it comes to launch and maintenance or innovation what would they be?

It might help to review this features list and tick what appeals to you before you start your search.

Redii ticks many of these boxes for example:

1. Peer to Peer Recognition.

Redii embraces the social recognition that millennials, for example, require at work. Putting your team in charge of developing a recognition culture can be motivating and drive a sense of autonomy. Redii’s social recognition can also be sent by mobile or via chatbots!

2. Mobile Access or mobile app.

Redii software unites teams on and off-site locations. Our mobile-first focus facilitates employee engagement and communication between employees working across geographically diverse locations.

3. Rewards Shop.

Immediate rewards that offer choice are paramount to the success of any employee recognition and reward program. Redii offers over 3,000 rewards to choose in our shop. RedBalloon, Wrapped, The Iconic, Flight Centre, Rebel Sports, Experiences, Getaways, Gadgets are only a few of thousands of rewards available.

4 .HR Analytics

Using software like Redii helps you to understand how your culture is living your company values and make the necessary adjustments to create an extraordinary work culture. Being aware of the trends and insights behind what’s driving your people is crucial. Redii analytics help you identify top talent and the most highly engaged teams.

5. Integrations with communications tools (Slack, Chatter)

We know working environments can get busy. With Redii, you can send recognition straight from the channels you use (like Slack) and not miss the significant milestones of your peers and teammates. Transparency is today’s culture currency and having always-on access to the instances of recognition within your organisation creates a ripple effect.

There you go! To finalise and answer the question what the best employee recognition software is, the answer is simple and easy. It is the one that adapts to your needs. We would love you to give us a go and help you to create an extraordinary work culture.

Book a demo today with one of our experienced recognition consultants.