Maximize employee engagement with employee giving programs

The Harvard Business Review recently published an article stating: “Employee engagement has a direct impact on business outcomes such as revenue growth, profitability, productivity, and customer satisfaction.”

With 96% of employees citing empathy as an important factor in their engagement and retention, it’s crucial to find a strategy that aligns with this ideal. Luckily, corporate philanthropy is a well-established method that shows your employees that you care. After all, employees who are actively engaged in giving and volunteering are 57% less likely to leave their jobs.

In particular, investing in employee giving allows employees to feel connected to your corporation and more engaged in their work. In this guide, we’ll explore a few top tips for engaging your employees with charitable giving. Let’s begin!

Employee engagement through philanthropy

Implementing corporate philanthropy programs at your organization is a great first step towards a more engaged employee population. However, your work doesn’t stop there. Here are a few tips to keep your employees engaged through philanthropy:

• Simplify participation. Make participation in your programs easy to encourage more employees to join. Have clear instructions outlined on your employee giving page and simplify donating through automatic payroll deductions, credit card giving, or even donation drives. If you make it easy for employees to donate, they will be more likely to do so, which will result in a larger number of engaged employees.
• Encourage local giving. Giving back to the local community is a great way for employees to feel connected to their work and the greater community. It’s also an opportunity to strengthen relationships with customers and vendors.
• Provide a variety of options. Not every employee will be engaged in the same way. Providing choices to your team regarding their philanthropic efforts is key to maximizing their interest. You can offer giving options for multiple causes and organizations, or through multiple different programs such as volunteer grants or matching gifts.
• Encourage employee-led efforts. Allowing your team to develop their own ideas is a great way to generate engagement, such as through an employee resource group. Not only will you have options that matter to your staff (they picked them, after all!), but you’re also far more likely to gain their support and engagement if they worked to have their cause considered.
• Make it personal. For employees to feel a connection to their work, it’s important for them to see how it impacts their lives. When giving back is personal, employees are more likely to participate. As an added incentive, your staff will find camaraderie in coworkers with similar interests and passions that they may have never considered before.
• Track your efforts together. Encourage perseverance with a visual representation of your progress. Set multiple, small goals and track them together, either physically on the break room wall or virtually on your corporation’s intranet. Seeing what you’ve accomplished together is a surefire way to build teamwork and pride in the office.
• Leadership communication and participation. Full leadership buy-in is crucial to philanthropic success and improving employee morale. Join your team in their efforts, contributions, and celebrations, and you’ll see a more engaged employee community.

To augment your programs, consider investing in an employee giving solution. These solutions make it simpler to manage your programs, track donations, and coordinate volunteer activities. You can customize your programs to align with your corporation’s values and philanthropic goals, choosing nonprofit organizations and causes that your employees would be interested in donating to. Plus, you’ll be able to track the donations made through your programs, which are often tax-deductible, making it easier for you to declare during the next tax season.

Prioritizing employee engagement

Having a thorough employee giving program indicates to your employees that you care about the community and their interests. This means that they’ll view their workplace favorably and be more likely to participate in your offerings, resulting in a greater number of engaged employees. And that leads to a higher employee retention rate. So don’t be afraid to jump on the generosity train and prioritize workplace giving!