Charity Work Is The New Tool
The phrase ‘team building’ often seems trite and overused. Immediately it conjures up images of a stale work environment and a consultant brought on board to rejuvenate a lifeless sales force with pointless, impractical exercises.
That was then. These days companies are turning to real-life team-building and hands-on volunteer projects to motivate a group of individuals to work as a team. In almost every case, these activities are forging bonds that remain even after the return to the cubicle.
When the Molson and Coors breweries merged a few years back, the higher ups turned to team-building exercises in an effort to boost morale and jump start some camaraderie.
“We quickly got past the idea of a ropes course or golf outing; we really wanted something where we could give back to one of the communities where we do business,” said Samuel Walker, chief legal officer for the newly dubbed Molson Coors.
Instead of a passé golf tournament or dated obstacle course, Molson Coors had a dozen members of its executive team roll up their collective sleeves to get dirty. The project; building a house under the tutelage of Habitat for Humanity.
“We had to unload this truck of cement roof tiles,” Walker said. “We actually had to figure out how to have kind of a bucket line, handing these very heavy tiles from one person to the next. That’s the ultimate team-building exercise.”
For some companies, it’s building a home with Habitat. Others have turned to building playgrounds or painting an after school center. Interjecting the company into the community and helping the less fortunate has been an eye-opening experience and has truly emphasized the meaning of the word “team”.
Alan Ranzer, executive direct of Impact 4 Good - an organization that matches corporate groups with volunteer opportunities – said the number of requests he’s received have gone up over 50% in the past year.
“We really are getting a lot more calls. It’s something companies are picking up for multiple reasons,” said Ranzer. “They see value in it for image purposes. Consumers are out there looking for companies that care and that goes a long way.”
Ranzer is right on the money as a recent Cone Corporate Citizenship Study showed that 86% of American consumers stated they were ‘somewhat likely’ to switch to a brand associated with a cause, barring the product price and quality were equal.
All of this can be seen as a sign of the times. Companies are changing their policies for various reasons – another being the type of employee they want to recruit. With a younger generation dead set on saving the planet and living an environmentally conscious lifestyle.
“Young people today and new employees are looking for organizations that really do demonstrate ethical core values,” said Sharon Allen, charmain of Deloitte & Touche. At a recent Deloitte annual partner meeting, upwards of 250 participants joined up to build a playground. Employees that didn’t have a chance to talk or get to know one another at the office, were now knee-deep in the muck.
Part of United Parcel Service corporate schools manager Bob Kapelski’s day-to-day includes orchestrating volunteer projects for new managers. Consider it part of the company’s introductory two-week training course. Kapelski spoke of a charity trip he organized where employees collected and sanitized second-hand medical equipment for distribution to hospitals in developing countries.
The new UPS employees were part of the wrapping and shipping process, allowing them to apply the skills they used with their on-the-job charity efforts.
Those efforts trickled from the top all the way down. Senior website designer Brian Sassaman went through the supervisor training school and stated that it gave him a better understanding on the principles he had been taught, as well as a newfound respect for his employer.
“I came away impressed that UPS would commit their people to doing that. They were basically paying us to do this,” added Sassaman.
The charity work Sassaman did on UPS’ watch eventually had him seeking out more volunteer projects to do on his own watch.
A message to all employers, never underestimate the power of charity work on your company’s dime.
The phrase ‘team building’ often seems trite and overused. Immediately it conjures up images of a stale work environment and a consultant brought on board to rejuvenate a lifeless sales force with pointless, impractical exercises.
That was then. These days companies are turning to real-life team-building and hands-on volunteer projects to motivate a group of individuals to work as a team. In almost every case, these activities are forging bonds that remain even after the return to the cubicle.
When the Molson and Coors breweries merged a few years back, the higher ups turned to team-building exercises in an effort to boost morale and jump start some camaraderie.
“We quickly got past the idea of a ropes course or golf outing; we really wanted something where we could give back to one of the communities where we do business,” said Samuel Walker, chief legal officer for the newly dubbed Molson Coors.
Instead of a passé golf tournament or dated obstacle course, Molson Coors had a dozen members of its executive team roll up their collective sleeves to get dirty. The project; building a house under the tutelage of Habitat for Humanity.
“We had to unload this truck of cement roof tiles,” Walker said. “We actually had to figure out how to have kind of a bucket line, handing these very heavy tiles from one person to the next. That’s the ultimate team-building exercise.”
For some companies, it’s building a home with Habitat. Others have turned to building playgrounds or painting an after school center. Interjecting the company into the community and helping the less fortunate has been an eye-opening experience and has truly emphasized the meaning of the word “team”.
Alan Ranzer, executive direct of Impact 4 Good - an organization that matches corporate groups with volunteer opportunities – said the number of requests he’s received have gone up over 50% in the past year.
“We really are getting a lot more calls. It’s something companies are picking up for multiple reasons,” said Ranzer. “They see value in it for image purposes. Consumers are out there looking for companies that care and that goes a long way.”
Ranzer is right on the money as a recent Cone Corporate Citizenship Study showed that 86% of American consumers stated they were ‘somewhat likely’ to switch to a brand associated with a cause, barring the product price and quality were equal.
All of this can be seen as a sign of the times. Companies are changing their policies for various reasons – another being the type of employee they want to recruit. With a younger generation dead set on saving the planet and living an environmentally conscious lifestyle.
“Young people today and new employees are looking for organizations that really do demonstrate ethical core values,” said Sharon Allen, charmain of Deloitte & Touche. At a recent Deloitte annual partner meeting, upwards of 250 participants joined up to build a playground. Employees that didn’t have a chance to talk or get to know one another at the office, were now knee-deep in the muck.
Part of United Parcel Service corporate schools manager Bob Kapelski’s day-to-day includes orchestrating volunteer projects for new managers. Consider it part of the company’s introductory two-week training course. Kapelski spoke of a charity trip he organized where employees collected and sanitized second-hand medical equipment for distribution to hospitals in developing countries.
The new UPS employees were part of the wrapping and shipping process, allowing them to apply the skills they used with their on-the-job charity efforts.
Those efforts trickled from the top all the way down. Senior website designer Brian Sassaman went through the supervisor training school and stated that it gave him a better understanding on the principles he had been taught, as well as a newfound respect for his employer.
“I came away impressed that UPS would commit their people to doing that. They were basically paying us to do this,” added Sassaman.
The charity work Sassaman did on UPS’ watch eventually had him seeking out more volunteer projects to do on his own watch.
A message to all employers, never underestimate the power of charity work on your company’s dime.
