11 Feb Have you ever asked your employees what causes they believe in?

Have you ever asked your employees what causes they believe in?

It’s a simple yet powerful question.

The answers can create the heart of a viable social responsibility program.

In today’s media environment, it’s important for companies of all sizes to support causes that make a difference in their local communities. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can no longer be an add-on for communications offices, it must be an integral part of the day-to-day work.

At NSPR, we work with companies to develop comprehensive CSR strategies to ensure that our clients are making a real difference in their communities. As with any sound strategy, these CSR plans begin with research and continue with a plan that ensures that everyone in the organization is on board and excited to participate.

In order to keep your employees engaged in your CSR programs, we recommend you seek their input right from the beginning. Take the time to learn what matters to them. We start every CSR program with an employee survey. In each survey, employees are asked to provide the names of charities they care about and even volunteer for on their own time.

This often leads to many charities to choose from – perhaps even more than your company can reasonably work within a given year. If that’s the case for you, leadership should choose as few as four charities to work with during the fiscal year, or one per quarter. In so doing, your company will be able to take the time necessary to make a difference for the organizations you choose in a meaningful way.

When deciding how to help your chosen charities, remember the following:

• Time and expertise is just as valuable as financial considerations;
• Your company likely has a skill set that it can use to help these charities;
• Provide ways for your employees to help. Create friendly competitions between departments to spur involvement;
• Connect with your charity through your social media channels to help grow awareness for both it and your efforts on its behalf;
• Plan an event to serve as a culmination of your partnership.

Strong partnerships between your company and non-profits will lead to a host of benefits, including employee satisfaction, consumer (or client) pride in your company, and distributive prestige for both you and the selected non-profits. The best partnerships last year after year and benefit the communities you serve for generations.

Remember, all of this good can start with a simple question.

At NSPR, we’re dedicated to helping you ask it.