Employers’ responsibility news and comment CCB 117
May 31, 2011
Comment by Chad Rodgerson for March/ April CCB 117
The findings from the LeapCR survey come as no great surprise. Feedback through much of the employee engagement work we do at Corporate Citizenship has also shown that people increasingly want to work for a company that shares their values, and this includes being given the opportunity to get involved in pro bono and charitable activities. Despite many major companies having volunteering policies in place, there remains some hesitancy amongst management, especially middle managers, when it comes to allowing employees time off to volunteer. Why is this the case and what can be done to overcome it?
Firstly, corporate responsibility teams are often unable to demonstrate the business value of employee involvement. Although there are various publically available statistics that show the correlation between volunteering and measures such as morale and productivity, managers are often not convinced unless there is clear evidence that the same benefit can be achieved in their own company. Effective measurement is therefore the key. Companies such as Aviva track skill development and motivation amongst employee volunteers, whilst Barclays compares the retention rate of employees engaged in community activities with those that are not. By collecting this impact data, it is much easier to make the case for volunteering to unconvinced line managers.
Secondly, there tends to be a disconnect between the corporate responsibility and human resources functions. Volunteering is often operating in a silo from other employee engagement and training, which results in most managers not considering the benefits, such as skill development and confidence building, which can be gained from staff involvement in community activities. Closer links between corporate responsibility and human resources can help overcome this. Organisations such as the City of London use selected volunteering opportunities as a cost effective alterative to traditional employee training and team building away days.
The LeapCR survey clearly shows there is appetite amongst employees to work for companies that allow staff to get involved in community activities. A more strategic approach to employee engagement in community programmes will help companies maximise the potential business value and avoid the risk of losing staff.
Chad is a Senior Consultant at Corporate Citizenship. Email him at chad.rogerson@corporate-citizenship.com to discuss assurance, community, impacts, new business, stakeholder engagement and strategy development.
Employee Groups welcome the abolition of the default reirement age
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has welcomed the commencement from Apri l5th 2011 of the six month process which will abbolish the Default Retirement Age. Organisiations will now be required to justify any compulsory retirement age still in place to avoid age discrimination claims and no longer be able to give emplyees notice of retirement unless the retirement was alredy in motion on or before the 5th of April and the employee reaches the age of 65 before the 30 September 2011. However, the CIPD is also pushing for a move towards the rigt to flexible working for all employeees, stating that this change will engage and motivate workers with all kinds of caring, work and life issues.
The Home Office has become the first organisation to achieve a new benchmark for employing disabled people
The Home Office has been awarded a new benchmark by the Clear Company , ‘Proud to be Clear Assured,’ which recognises companies for their recruitment and retention of disabled talent. The rating is part of an assesment programme, launched by the Clear Company, to help organisations identify barriers in the recruitment of disabled people. The Clear Company highlighted several areas of best practice in the Home Office, including the level of support for disabled candidates and using alternative assessment methods such as work trials or working interviews. The achievement comes weeks after the Home Office was commended as 2011 Employer of the Year by Stonewall, the leading charity for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
Business in the Community’s workplace gender campaign, Opportunity Now, awarded organisations with the most impactful and innovative appoaches to creating gender equality in April this year. The Opportunity Now awards mark the start of the awards 20th anniversary year. Winners of the multiple awards include Barclay‘s for its Women Innitiatives Networks which has over 3000 members in the UK. The organisation won the Advancing Women in the Workplace Award. The Agile Organisation Award, recognising employers who have demonstrated an agile or flexible approach to job design, was awarded to PepsiCo for the work it has done to promote and embed a culture of flexibility. Other companies celebrated by the awards include American Express, Cisco, BAE Systems and Burberry.
Absenteeism costing UK business £32 billion a year
A new study undertaken by PwC has found that employees in the UK take almost twice as many ‘sick’ days as their US counterparts. UK workers have an average of 10 days unscheduled absence from their jobs a year, while 5.5 days is the average in the US and 4.5 days is the average in Asia- Pacific. In the UK 80% of all absencesare atributed to sickness and, based on the average national salary of £25,000, this is costing British businesses aproximately £32 billion per annum, far more than previous studies have suggested. Absences across differnent industries vary significantly, with the IT and banking and finance industries lowest (averaging 7.6 and 7.8 days off per annum respectively) and the public sector averaqging 12.2 days unschedued leave per annum.
In April the government announced the end to all informal internships from 2012. All departments will be required to advertise their internships on a civil service website, and efforts must be made to promote work experience and internships to underepresented groups. The government also launched three new internship schemes to give young people experience of working in the civil service. Each scheme is aimed at a distinct age group, graduates and undergraduates, college students and secondary students, who all come from underepresented groups or socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Baroness Warsi, Minister without Portfolio, said the internships schemes have been implemented to give a start in life and broaden horizons for talented young people who may not ordinarily be abl to obtain an internship because the lack the necessary contacts and do not have the financial capabilities to undertake unpaid internships. The schemes reflect Nick Cleggs vision for a more socially mobile society.
49% of UK employees said they were more likely to stay with an employer that encourages its workforce to donate time or raise money for charity within working hours according to a survey by provider of employee engagement software LeapCR. The survey , which questioned 1,007 employees, also found that 57% of employees want their company to do more towards corporate social responsibility and suporting charities. The survey also found that 63% of workers felt that having paid time off to volenteer would significantly improve engagement in their company. LeapCR argue that a shift from low to high engagement of employees could have a £21 million pound impact on the bottom line for a workforce of 10,000, when issues such as recruitment costs, sickness and customer loyalty are considered.
Business application monitors sustainability from employee desktops
Ashridge Business School has signed up to pilot a desktop application known as Sustainability Momentum or SuMo. The app, developed by sustainability software producer CloudApps, connects the sustainability efforts of employees across whole companies. The application allows employees to be constantly updated with their carbon footprint and compare this with the footprint of colleagues across departments. The application also displays real-time updates of practical everyday suggestions for improving sustainability, relevant to the employees role. Employees can then disclose which suggestions they will adopt and their participation is monitored. CloudApps is also aiding Ashridge in monitoring and assessing use of electricity, fuel, waste, water and associated carbon emissions across the campus.
Unilever proposes changes to UK pension arrangements
Unilever is proposing to make changes to its UK pension arrangements to come into affect from January 2012. The company has announced that it will be entering into consultation with its employees in the UK this summer surounding proposals to close the final salary plan to existing employee members and offering new pension arrangements.
In September 2011, theUniversity of Exeter and WWF will launch the One Planet MBA.The degree will be the first UK business degree created jointly by a business school and a non-governmental organisation. The One Planet MBA will aim to have a global outlook, developing leaders and managers capable of running organisations in a culturally diverse, resource-constrained world.
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