Generosity can boost your businesses profile and even improve your employees’ motivation and mental health. Not everyone can afford to give back to a cause, community or workforce every month, but if you’ve had a good quarter/year why not show others your support.
Want to give something back but not sure how to express your gratitude? There’s plenty of ways you can do good, most come with great business benefits too. We’ve picked 6 inspiring ways your company can make a difference.
- Encourage your staff to volunteer
Giving your staff free time to do charitable work is a win-win situation. Employer supported volunteering can benefit both your business and the individual – as well as benefiting society. Volunteering has been shown to boost mental health and could help develop and further your employee’s skills. Businesses that encourage volunteering also get marked ‘socially responsible’. It also provides your company with a positive PR boost. - Donating to a good cause
There are plenty of benefits for businesses who give to charity, including improving your company’s reputation and building the respect of your employees. Ask your employees to nominate a charity, or choose a cause linked to your business (for example if your company offers counselling you could make a contribution to a charity like Mind.) Visibility isn’t the name of the game here, but you could make a donation on behalf of your ‘employee of the month’ or ‘top clients’ and let them know via a greetings card how much has been donated to which charity as well as a thank you for their loyalty. - Give to your community
For those in need, certain times of the year can be particularly challenging (e.g. Christmas), why not examine your business and see if there’s anything you can offer in support of your local or wider community. Can any of your products benefit a charity or be provided as a gift in a raffle? Could any of your services be offered free of charge to an organisation or directly to those in need? Giving back doesn’t have to involve giving away cash. - Take part in a charity drive
There are plenty of creative ways you can encourage your staff to help others. Suggesting group activities to raise money has an added bonus of team building and bringing your teams together. Other ideas include offering a ‘buy a holiday day’ raffle, charge tickets at £2, whoever wins gets an extra days holiday. Hold bake sales or ask employees to make a contribution to a ‘food bank box. - Sponsor an intern
Offering a sponsored internship, work experience or apprenticeship to a young person who needs help getting a foot through the door is great for your community, and could benefit your business too. Reach out to local enterprise schemes that help young people find work, they’ll be more than willing to find an enthusiastic match for whatever paid work experience you can offer. Although this is a longer-term financial commitment than a bake sale, it’s an incredibly rewarding one and could lead to you gaining a skilled and committed employee. - Reward your employees
Making your employees feel valued is priceless, people want to feel like they matter. Demonstrating your generosity as an employer could also protect you from a mass exodus. Studies show that 53% of employees consider looking for a new job at the end and beginning of the year. There are obvious ways to show your appreciation to your employees such as a bonus but here’s some more creative ways to show your thanks…
– Join a perk scheme that offers employees discounts on purchases such as movie tickets and eating out.
– Give your staff additional time off over Christmas without it coming out their annual leave allowance. Let’s face it, not much gets done between Christmas and New Year.
– Offer a range of rewards/perks employees can choose from, that way the gift is customised and won’t go to waste e.g. gift card for a selected store.
– Take your team to the pub and buy them a couple of rounds of drinks as a thank you for their dedication over a busy period or do a company ‘pizza day’.
Does your business help its local community or charity? We’d love to hear from you! Share some photos via facebook and tag us in! #UnBizTeam #uon #BizGivesBack
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