Unemployment is at an all time low, and voluntary benefits - like health insurance and 401(k) programs - are nearly ubiquitous workplace commodities. How do recruiters differentiate their companies from the competition in such a crowded marketplace for talent?
Employee Benefit Advisor suggests that part of the answer lies in Lifestyle Benefits: experiential amenities that deliver tangible work-life balance and satisfaction. Companies seem to have caught on: a 2018 survey on employee perks by the National Business Group on Health reveals that on-site benefits like group fitness classes, life coaching, car cleaning, and even farm share deliveries are part of the new normal in the employee experience.
Yet despite the fact that 83% of millennials say they would be more loyal to a company that helps them contribute to social and environmental issues, it remains a challenge to identify the lifestyle benefits that will allow them to do just that. Many companies offer paid time off for volunteering, and have embraced digital open-choice giving platforms. But the on-site, experiential element of doing good has been difficult to weave into the day-to-day reality of work.
The companies that have embraced Donii’s solution are those that are looking to bring impact on campus, and that want to make it available to their workforce year round. Unsurprisingly, they’ve also found other innovative ways to engage their employees around goodness. Here are some of our favorites:
GoogleServe is Google’s month of volunteering, held each June. The program began a decade ago with simple community service projects, but has expanded to leverage Googlers’ professional expertise for maximum impact. Now software engineers participate in pro-bono hackathons and HR professionals provide interview skills training to jobseekers, among other thoughtful pairings. As a result, employee volunteerism has seen a dramatic increase year round, as Googlers find new causes they are passionate about right in their own communities.
In 2016, the TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation committed $5 million to aid the humanitarian refugee crisis. The company made sure to draw its workforce into the initiative by bringing its main nonprofit partner, the International Institute of New England (IINE), to speak to employees at its headquarters in a fireside chat. Inspired by what they heard, employees responded by collecting 700 pounds of clothing and household items and $750 worth of gift cards to support IINE clients.
Companies looking for meaningful ways to attract and engage employees should look toward goodness as a lifestyle benefit. The most successful initiatives will leverage partnerships with nonprofit organizations and goodness vendors to maximize the caring potential of their workforces.