The young adults of today, called Millennials or Generation Y, are sometimes being called by many as ego centered and narcissistic. However, these are extremely tech savvy adults who are also more civic minded than their elders and having a strong sense of community. For many companies, engaging and getting the services of these young adults, the future business leaders, can be an advantage. A strategy is through spreading a culture of generosity within the company.
Studies have shown the importance to these Millennials of working in companies with corporate missions of engaging in charity, and not only thinking of their pay. There is a nonprofit organization Net Impact who polled more than 1,700 college students and graduates last year, where the results was 53 percent of the young workers stated that they prefer work where they can make an impact and where they can find happiness, and 72 percent of the students and graduates polled agreed. Even more important is that with all things equal, 58 percent of these young adult Millennials will accept pay cuts of as much as 15 percent, and still will work for a company that is engaged in charitable endeavors.
Another study by 2012 Millennial Impact Report indicates that 63% of Millennials volunteered for a nonprofit in 2011 and 90% of survey respondents said they expected to volunteer as much or even more in the following year. Since volunteering is very much a part of the Millennial lifestyle, companies would be wise to include corporate philanthropy when developing a strategy for employee engagement.
Employees can get inspired in their work when there is the spirit of giving and volunteering in the workplace. Employees can feel that they can help their company make a difference in society, instead of them thinking that they are just ordinary employees.
Charitable and philanthropic activities can help inspire employees, and there are four key areas to this.
Productivity: Productivity can increase when employees are inspired and engaged. Ethics: Employees can make good decisions if they are involved in humane and selfless activities. Gratitude: When employees are given the chance to give back to society, they will ever be grateful. Pride: Employees will be proud of their company when they are proud of their work.
A strategy that companies have found successful with attracting young Millennials is through giving VPTO or Volunteer Paid Time Off as incentive. These employees are given time off with pay when volunteering during working hours. There are US Bank employees who can get up to 16 hours of pay in a year for their volunteer activities to the homeless, aged people, and even to kids. Companies find it less costly for their employees to do volunteer activities than replacing them if they decide to resign.
IBM has taken these types of programs to a new height. They allow some employees to engage in a full month's volunteer activities in other countries. Some call this the corporate form of the Peace Corps, IBM's Corporate Service Corps, comprising a group of 500 employees chosen from thousands of employees. These are projects costing $250,000 each and producing good value to the countries receiving the aid, but these are also projects producing more skilled, loyal, helpful, but most importantly more civic oriented employees. Aside from this, IBM also looks at new and emerging markets and also the business leaders who can do different market researches globally.
Companies who want to recruit Millennials need to offer perks like attractive employee engagement programs in order to stay relevant and competitive. By developing a culture of philanthropy in the workplace, you'll attract socially conscious Millennials, who could help your business become even better as they become your company's next generation of leaders.
Studies have shown the importance to these Millennials of working in companies with corporate missions of engaging in charity, and not only thinking of their pay. There is a nonprofit organization Net Impact who polled more than 1,700 college students and graduates last year, where the results was 53 percent of the young workers stated that they prefer work where they can make an impact and where they can find happiness, and 72 percent of the students and graduates polled agreed. Even more important is that with all things equal, 58 percent of these young adult Millennials will accept pay cuts of as much as 15 percent, and still will work for a company that is engaged in charitable endeavors.
Another study by 2012 Millennial Impact Report indicates that 63% of Millennials volunteered for a nonprofit in 2011 and 90% of survey respondents said they expected to volunteer as much or even more in the following year. Since volunteering is very much a part of the Millennial lifestyle, companies would be wise to include corporate philanthropy when developing a strategy for employee engagement.
Employees can get inspired in their work when there is the spirit of giving and volunteering in the workplace. Employees can feel that they can help their company make a difference in society, instead of them thinking that they are just ordinary employees.
Charitable and philanthropic activities can help inspire employees, and there are four key areas to this.
Productivity: Productivity can increase when employees are inspired and engaged. Ethics: Employees can make good decisions if they are involved in humane and selfless activities. Gratitude: When employees are given the chance to give back to society, they will ever be grateful. Pride: Employees will be proud of their company when they are proud of their work.
A strategy that companies have found successful with attracting young Millennials is through giving VPTO or Volunteer Paid Time Off as incentive. These employees are given time off with pay when volunteering during working hours. There are US Bank employees who can get up to 16 hours of pay in a year for their volunteer activities to the homeless, aged people, and even to kids. Companies find it less costly for their employees to do volunteer activities than replacing them if they decide to resign.
IBM has taken these types of programs to a new height. They allow some employees to engage in a full month's volunteer activities in other countries. Some call this the corporate form of the Peace Corps, IBM's Corporate Service Corps, comprising a group of 500 employees chosen from thousands of employees. These are projects costing $250,000 each and producing good value to the countries receiving the aid, but these are also projects producing more skilled, loyal, helpful, but most importantly more civic oriented employees. Aside from this, IBM also looks at new and emerging markets and also the business leaders who can do different market researches globally.
Companies who want to recruit Millennials need to offer perks like attractive employee engagement programs in order to stay relevant and competitive. By developing a culture of philanthropy in the workplace, you'll attract socially conscious Millennials, who could help your business become even better as they become your company's next generation of leaders.
About the Author:
Sebastian Troup loves blogging about corporate social responsibility companies. For additional information about philanthropic solutions for businesses and non profit organizations, or to discover some employee giving campaign ideas, please check out the Truist.com website now.
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