Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

June 6, 2018 Published weekly by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com www.thomsonreuters.ca One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com (416) 298-5196 Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7896 News Editor: Marcel Vander Wier marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7837 Sales Manager: Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Circulation Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Thomson Reuters, Media Solutions, Canada). Volunteering helps with retention: Report BY SARAH DOBSON Four years ago, in looking at its corporate social re- sponsibility (CSR) strategy, Prudential Insurance knew changes were needed when it came to its volunteering initiatives. "We had a tremendous body of highly skilled, uber-passionate and engaged employees that we're not leveraging against our strategy and so… we said, 'Let's think differently about how we do employee community engagement,'" said Spring Lacy, vice- president of corporate and community engagement at Prudential Insurance in Newark, N.J. "In the past, we did a day of service and we did a lot of the typical things that companies do but there was no strategic tie-in, there was no connec- tion to talent, and we sure weren't measuring any- thing — I mean, if we had a bunch of people show up, we called that successful. So, we really evolved our model to be connected to the talent strategy, and supportive from an impact perspective of the broader CSR strategy." Now, there's a matching gift program where em- ployees can donate to a non-profit organization or school, and Prudential will match up to US$5,000 per year. ere's also a grants program where em- ployees can volunteer their time to organizations and causes that matter to them, and Prudential provides US$10 per hour, up to US$500 per year, in support of that service. ere are also company-sponsored employee volunteer projects, such as helping out with a com- munity project or providing consulting to small businesses, said Lacy. "ere's definitely a relationship between the people that participate in our programs and the people who really do well at the company and tend to stay on and stay involved, and to move forward," she said. "And they've told us anecdotally… that it matters to them — as they are thinking about what their career will be like at Prudential, this work mat- ters to them, and they're happy and proud to be involved in it." Prudential's approach makes sense, consider- ing the results of a recent study that found em- ployees stick around longer when their employer engages them in charitable work. Employee turn- over drops by an average of 57 per cent among employees deeply connected to their companies' giving and volunteering efforts, found the study by Benevity, provider of CSR and employee en- gagement software. In analyzing a global dataset of more than two million employees with corporate giving and vol- unteering programs, the study found a turnover rate of: 28 per cent among employees who didn't donate or volunteer; 18 per cent among those who just donated; 17 per cent among those who just vol- unteered; and 12 per cent among those who both donated and volunteered. "ese days, people don't necessarily leave or dis- engage with a company or a business vertical, they leave a culture and values that they perceive are misaligned. Inclusive and user-centric corporate 'goodness' programs not only help to avoid that, they can become a source of differentiation and at- traction for employees," said Bryan de Lottinville, founder and CEO of Benevity in Calgary. It's about changing the narrative around corpo- rate giving programs generally, and workplace giv- ing programs specifically, he said, "from a focus on fundraising and once-a-year transactional orienta- tions to one that is more focused on engagement and making connections with purpose, meaning and impact as part of the employee experience." e findings echo those of a 2017 survey by Vol- unteer Canada and Investors Group that found 68 per cent of Canadians would choose a job with a company that has a strong volunteering culture over one that does not. "Where a company has an employer-supported volunteering program along with donations op- tions, along with the fact that it's a company that's seen as doing good — these are all features that we know are playing into 'I want to be associated with this company because it is a reflection of my values, I'm going to stand proudly with it, and they're going to support me being who I can be in the world as a changemaker,'" said Elizabeth Dove, director of cor- porate citizenship at Volunteer Canada in Toronto. "People are drawn to a multiplicity of causes — they'd really like not necessarily to be told where to put their cause time. It's that balance between 'We're telling you we've got these things organized for you' and 'We're going to support these things you're passionate about.' It's a great combination." In addition, employers should do intentional tracking to both prove value and improve value, said Dove, and look at what they're trying to achieve with the volunteering initiatives, such as skills de- velopment, empathy development, teamwork, a sense of community or brand improvement. "Be really clear on what's success from a program like this, what's the effect you want to have on your community and what's the effect you want to have on your employees? And look at what are the pieces of that effectiveness and what are the indicators that you can measure year over year? It's going to be dif- ferent for every company," she said. While studies have shown the benefits of volun- teering programs, "you always wonder how that's going to translate to your own company," said Lacy. "It's one thing to say that a benchmarking study says that this is the case — we're actually at the point where we can say the benchmark says that, and we actually are following the benchmark because we've got Prudential's data that tells the same story, so it's been exciting."

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