Your employees are volunteering for unique charities that spark their interest, but their volunteer hours might be going overlooked. Are your employees communicating their volunteering outside of the office?
Employees are already actively posting their volunteer activities outside of the office on social media, and they’re willing to be just as active communicating company CSR initiatives. According to Cone Communications Research, 76% of employees are eager to share their own pictures and social media content focusing on the social impact they’re making through their office’s CSR.
Increasing employee engagement is the No. 1 goal of Internal Communication (IC) teams, and yet these teams rarely bring in CSR initiatives into their communication goals. In a survey, the majority of IC professionals prioritized employee engagement while only 24% prioritized CSR goals. Employee engagement has a phenomenal impact on a company’s bottom line, and CSR is the key tool for increasing it and should not be overlooked by IC teams. These teams will need to work closely with CSR managers to reach organizational goals and develop attractive work cultures.
Over 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer matched giving schemes and other CSR initiatives to their employees. These businesses have adapted their business models to embrace their CSR initiatives, and it shows in their financial earnings. Centralizing CSR is not possible without a proactive and energetic employee base, and that’s where effective IC teams come to play. Internal communications should focus on clearly presenting CSR initiatives to employees through a similized channel that embraces employee’s desires to post on social media.
CSR is also effective in influencing company culture and employee satisfaction at the office. CSR gives meaning to the job. Employees are more involved in the company's growth, which aids the organization's competitiveness. In an organization, people are key actors that push the business to the top, but they need their IC teams to help them get there through organized communication channels.
Employees benefit from a spectrum of engagement options and the ability to select their own CSR interests, but IC teams must also consolidate communication in some way. The channel that CSR communications take place on is extremely influential on employee engagement and the overall social impact. Employees are reported to have improved company loyalty, productivity, and citizenship behaviour when successful immersed in CSR messages.
But how do IC teams unify all communications onto one channel without disrupting employee’s natural desire to share on social media?
CSR communications will not be effective if your company is forcing communication channels your employees don’t actually use. Increasing digital channels only increases the noise employees are exposed too. Think about the communication channels your employees are already actively sharing their volunteer work on?
Nearly all employees use social media in some way, and the majority are connected with each other on Facebook and LinkedIn. The optimal solution is to integrate CSR initiatives with social media while operating on a centralized platform.
One last question: What’s the best-centralized platform for our internal communication and CSR initiatives? Well, I’ve got some kind of idea.
Learn more about how to simplify your internal communications and integrate your CSR on social media here.
