Enhancing Employee Engagement
Aug 15, 2014 2:00 PM ET
Campaign:
2014 LBG Canada Annual Meeting
While there are many forms of volunteering programs that can create value for employees, community partners and the company by extension, ‘Dollars for Doers’ programs have a unique role to play in how companies choose to engage employees through volunteering efforts that occur outside of working hours.
What is a Dollars for Doers Program?
- A D4D program matches employee initiative and volunteer time (outside of working hours) with a corporate contribution to the community partner of the employee’s choice. At present, the median corporate matching of employee volunteer time is $12.50 per hour, with some rates as high as $50 per hour. On average, employers gave $696 for every 40 hours of employee volunteer time.
What are the Benefits of a Dollars for Doer’s program?
- Dollars for Doers programs assists employers to make corporate volunteering commitments tangible, in particular when during working hours volunteering is not part of the overall strategy.
- The ideal of employee engagement is enhanced through D4D programming, as employers communicate “We care about you (our employees), therefore we care about the issues you care enough about to volunteer on their behalf.
Considerations linked to successful D4D programming:
- Clear communication. Of companies reporting a decrease in Dollars for Doer’s participation, 67% cited lack of internal communications as a key reason. Conversely, 62% of companies reporting an increase in participation cited improved internal communications as a key reason.
- Time Reward Ratio. Is your time/reward ratio encouraging participation? The time to dollar ratio reported by LBG Canada companies can vary from company to company, from 8 hours: $500 to 40 hours: $1000.
- Resources for Implementation: What administrative resource is required? What results could be achieved with additional or modified effort? How are my stakeholders engaged through current efforts? Could this be enhanced?
For more information, join us at the 2014 LBG Canada Annual Meeting as we discuss how employee volunteering strategies facilitate employee engagement and move performance measurement forward. To register, visit our website or contact us.
