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21 May 2019
by Tracey Ward

How involvement in charitable activities can boost a business

Helping others makes us feel good about ourselves. As Sir Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give”.

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So, to create a truly holistic wellbeing strategy, it’s important to give employees access to a variety of volunteering and charitable projects that support the local community and the world at large.

In her article for consultancy Gallagher’s 2018 Organisational Wellbeing & Talent Insights Report, Global Practice Leader for Wellbeing & Engagement Ali Payne said: “The opportunity to make a connection that boosts organisational wellbeing while helping neighbours is too good to pass up.

“Employees are increasingly interested in having the chance to support the communities where they work. 

“And this trend comes at a time when the physical and emotional elements of total wellbeing appear to be linked with critical drivers like community involvement, resilience and stress management.”

Why social wellbeing is important
As of January this year, UK public companies have to comply with a new corporate governance code.

Drafted by the Financial Reporting Council, it emphasises the need for companies to engage with all their key stakeholders, including their workforce, and for executive remuneration and workforce policies to be aligned with the company’s strategy and values.

Reporting on wellness factors such as social wellbeing could well be the next step in this drive to promote transparency and integrity in the business world.

Even more importantly, promoting better social wellbeing is also increasingly accepted as an effective means of driving employee engagement and productivity, as well as combating common health problems such as stress.

Research demonstrating this concept includes a 2015 online “Busy yet socially engaged” survey that involved around 750 Swiss workers and aimed to better understand the relationship between volunteering and health.

It found that charitable work helped to avoid work-life conflict, burnout and stress, and encouraged better mental health, leading the authors to conclude that “volunteering, albeit energy and time-consuming, may contribute to a greater sense of balance for people in the workforce”.

Changing reporting requirements and the positive impact on your existing workforce are not the only reasons to improve your social wellbeing policy, though.

Helping the local community - and offering opportunities for workers to take part in initiatives - should also help to attract talent, and generally improve the status of your company brand.

“Earning a reputation for doing good deeds locally is a fairly reliable way to positively impact recruitment,” Payne wrote in her article.

“Millennials, especially, are known to evaluate potential employers based on their commitment to this cause.”

How to get started
Belonging – feeling safe, and worthy of acceptance and love – is an integral part of our overall health and wellbeing. 

Ways to create a sense of belonging within your company include introducing wide-ranging social initiatives. For example, Generali Group, headquartered in Italy, did this with the launch of The Human Safety Net.

A global initiative that aims to empower disadvantaged people, it encompasses other insurers, business consultants, and NGOs in a variety of countries, and runs three key programmes that: help entrepreneurial refugees; support life-saving medical interventions; and promote equal opportunities for children around the world.

Other options include looking for inspiring local causes to support, and organising small-scale group activities such as retirement home visits or litter pick-up walks.

Whether you keep it local or choose a more global approach, offering a variety of volunteering opportunities will help to increase engagement, as will providing paid time off and ensuring initiatives are effectively communicated.

The author is Tracey Ward, Head of Business Development & Marketing, Generali UK Employee Benefits.

This article is provided by Generali UK. 

If you'd like to hear a lot more on the topic of employee wellbeing, and also specifically from Generali, then sign up for Employee Wellbeing Congress on 20 June in London, where they'll be exhibiting.

In partnership with Generali UK Branch

Generali UK provides insurance solutions to the UK employees of multinational clients.

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