Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Promoting Volunteerism Can Reap Rewards for Employers

Volunteerism is part of the corporate bone and sinew at Rosen Hotels & Resorts in Orlando, where employees can mentor students as e-pals electronically, assist with the local YMCA’s annual Healthy Kids Day and earn monetary donations to organizations where they volunteer.

The CEO at MindWorks Multimedia Inc.—an interactive multimedia video production company in Durham, N.C.—volunteers in the community and pays his 18 employees to contribute eight hours each month to community organizations they believe in. In 2009, employees volunteered more than 2,500 hours. That’s in addition to thousands of dollars in pro bono work and charitable donations the company makes.

And at Ohio-based public accounting firm Rea & Associates Inc., the company’s values statement reminds employees they are company ambassadors and exhorts each to be “a person of influence,” to “be a Rea ambassador,” and to “invest in your family, your community and your future.”

HR encourages and helps facilitate employee volunteerism; employees are recognized annually with a ‘volunteer of the year’ award. The winner receives money and a plaque; runners-up receive money. Rewarding volunteerism is a practice Rea continued during the soured economy, said HR director Pat Porter, because it recognizes that contributing to the community creates goodwill and develops a person personally and professionally.

For the full SHRM article, go to:

Promoting Volunteerism Can Reap Rewards for Employers

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