In January, members of the Great Place To Work UK team rolled up their sleeves and got to work volunteering with The Felix Project.
Being a great workplace is about giving back - most often you're giving back to employees, but giving back to the community is just as important.
Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, should be an essential consideration for your culture. It's vital for businesses to do their part in building a better world, and to help their employees feel a sense of purpose at work - a key driver for employee engagement.
At Great Place To Work UK, we recognise how crucial this is. It's why we've helped enable 13,000 trees to be planted through our partnership with Ecologi. It's also why we offer every employee 2 days off per year to volunteer for a cause of their choice. And it's why a team of 10 of us headed to the Poplar Docks in January to do our bit to fight food waste and deliver meals to those in need.
The Felix Project
Each year, 3 million tonnes of edible food from the UK food industry goes to waste. At the same time, 4.7 million adults struggle to afford to eat every day, and 2 million children are at risk of missing their next meal.1
The Felix Project was set up in 2016 to combat both issues at once. They rescue food that would otherwise be thrown away from suppliers and use it to deliver meals to almost 1000 front-line charities, primary schools, and holiday programmes in London.
We joined the charity for a day of sorting and preparing meals to feed the vulnerable, homeless, and those who are unable to afford to feed themselves or their families.
The time our 10 dedicated volunteers put in equated to 18,000 meals being delivered around the city.
"It was a genuinely really fun and rewarding day working together on slightly different types of tasks," said Sara Silvonen, Senior Consultant and Wellbeing Lead at Great Place to Work. "Would recommend to everyone!"
The team enjoyed the opportunity so much that we will be partnering with The Felix Project again throughout the year.
CSR at the UK's Best Workplaces™
We’re not the only ones who understand the importance of giving back.
Best Workplaces consistently put people first – not just in terms of looking out for their own employees, but also by caring for their surrounding community and environment however they can.
In 2021, Best Workplaces™ donated over £118 million to charity. But they also found creative and innovative ways to play their part in building a better world.
Software company Salesforce believes that business is the greatest platform for change. It has applied a 1-1-1 model of integrated philanthropy globally, committing 1% of its equity, technology and time to improving education, equality and the environment for everyone.
As part of the 'Pledge 1%' movement, employees have invested time in projects supporting a range of goals, such as digital transformation, virtual education for students and development opportunities for jobseekers in a remote-work world.
Such social good has also created a chance for employees to be recognised through Salesforce’s Citizen Philanthropy programme.
It's a win-win for all
Aside from the benefits CSR policies like this have for the community and wider world, they are also a powerful motivator for current and prospective employees - particularly the younger generations.
In fact, according to Forbes, 64% of Millennials won’t take a job if their employee doesn’t have a strong CSR policy, and 83% would be more loyal to a company that helps them contribute to social and environmental issues.2
Meanwhile, 84% of employees at Best Workplaces agree that they feel good about the ways their organisation gives back to the community, and 80% agree that their work has special meaning – it is not ‘just a job.’
Would your employees agree? Find out what they think about your CSR efforts and more with our Trust Index Survey.
1. Felix Project (2023) Our Story: https://thefelixproject.org/about/our-story
2. Forbes (2020). The Power of Purpose: The Business Case for Purpose Part 2: https://www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/2020/03/07/the-power-of-purpose-the-business-case-for-purpose-all-the-data-you-were-looking-for-pt-2/?sh=3c8e10963cf7
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