In the last 10 years, corporate leaders across the country have increasingly begun to implement and encourage volunteer opportunities, wit
h many
companies now offering paid-time-off volunteer programs. This is not surprising, considering that these programs are a proven way to
improve business
.
But if corporate leaders want these opportunities to create a real, lasting corporate culture and have real employee impact, they have to begin to approach volunteering not as a guilt-based philosophy, but as a way of investing.
Being in the public relations business, I believe words and the way we use them matter. And when it comes to volunteering, we need to change the rhetoric. When we tell our employees to “give back” through our corporate programs — which, by association, means our business is giving back as well — it sends a subtle but wrong message.
“Giving back” implies that someone has taken something: something is owed, someone’s been wronged and someone is guilty. Guilt is a powerful emotion that can motivate people to action, but in the corporate “giving back” context, it has flaws.
First, guilt must be accepted. Those who do not accept guilt will either fail to act or will have to be bullied to act. Neither is a strong long-term corporate tactic.
Second, “healthy” guilt is transactional — you’ve done wrong, therefore now do right. Do enough right and you will no longer be guilty. However, few corporate “give back” programs do or can offer such clearly defined parameters. Rather, there’s perpetual guilt — we are corporate, therefore we are always guilty. Once again, this is not a strong, long-term corporate engagement tactic.
Third, guilt encourages extrinsic thinking — doing things for what others (media, reporters, etc.) will say or think rather than the company or individual’s core intrinsic values. Strong companies, like strong individuals, are those that have core intrinsic values and act on them because it’s the right thing to do.
These thoughts started becoming clear to me a few years ago after I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks serving in Rwanda. Though the country has made incredible strides since the 1990s genocide, it is still struggling with the ramifications, which include displaced families, at-risk youth, the availability of medical supplies and medical care, jobs and more. When I returned, it was hard not to feel uneasy about having so much in material things compared to my new friends who had so little. And I was humbled by the realization that their circumstances could be mine.
But, while impactful, that is not what motivates me to continue to look for opportunities to give and serve. What impacts me most is how these opportunities have changed the way I see and think about the world and my place in it. What motivates me is what I have gained by giving.
Investing is to use, give or devote something — time, talent, treasure, etc. — for a purpose or to achieve something. When investing, someone gives value in order to gain something of value. There’s risk, but investing is not a one-sided transaction; there’s an active expectation that by giving we will receive a return.
So, when the partners at my firm implemented a paid-time-off volunteer program for our staff later that year, I didn’t want them to take advantage of the program because they felt give-back guilt, or because they owed something. Rather, I wanted them to think of volunteering in terms of building on their core values and investing in others so they too might grow.
Implementing a volunteer program will likely boost a business’s productivity and morale. A 2017 report found that 89% of employees believe that companies who sponsor volunteer activities offer a better overall working environment than those who do not. But encouraging these experiences will also influence employees’ ability to think and work differently. This is the real win, because a company is only as good as the sum of its parts and only as unique as the people who make it up.
