Volunteering to Succeed

- by Kenneth Hein and Helena Faith Miel, CITE

These companies find that doing good for the community ends up helping their bottom line

Ann May had seen the movies and she had watched the news. New York City was a frightening place full of murder, crime and pollution.  Each day she made the hour-long commute from her friendly, suburban Long Island home to Deutsche Bank on 52nd Street into the heart of the madness.

It all seemed so harsh to this polite conference planning associate from the 'burbs. Not only did she look forward to going home and away from the noise and clutter, but also she avoided the people on the streets. You never know who they could be or what they could want.

Then one day her opinion changed about the city where she works and the job itself. The shift came when her company initiated a volunteer program last October. "It makes you look at New York as a community, not as a place you just drop in to work," she says.  May says she now feels part of the community, and she is proud of her company's volunteer initiative. "It's altruistic. I like to believe that I'm associated with a company that feels that way," she says.  Are companies with volunteer programs truly benevolent or are they more savvy than the rest? Probably a little of both, considering corporate volunteerism offers many advantages that can be beneficial to business goals. Studies have shown companies that have participated in charity work often experience increased job performance and an enhanced corporate image.

"It's more than just a nice thing to do. Businesses are approaching this with a strategic integrated approach to achieve multiple goals," says Jeff Hough, vice president of corporate affairs for the Washington, D.C.-based The Points of Light Foundation.  Nearly 90 percent of the companies surveyed by the Foundation, which studies and recognizes excellence in corporate volunteer programs, said that such programs improve employee retention and morale, aid in recruitment and build better teams. Half of the respondents reported a direct correlation between volunteerism and profitability, according to The Points of Light.

The connection between these benefits and company profits is further supported by the New York-based Conference Board Report, Corporate Volunteer Programs: Benefits to Business. The report states there's a strong connection between volunteer programs and the company return on assets and investments.

"Everybody knows these programs are good for the community," says Hough. "What they don't know is that it's good for the employees and the company."

Proof positive

For many underprivileged children, Santa Claus never comes.
However, when Tom Downey, an office manager for the New
York-based McCann Erickson, assumed the role, the results were magical.

"One year we gave a Barbie doll to a little girl who had always
wanted one," says Downey, who has played Santa for the past five years. "Seeing her face light up was worth a million dollars. I know I'm part of something special here. It's a pleasure working for McCann."  Think of all of the dollars and hours companies have spent to achieve such results. Many times, a group volunteer project can render the same outcome as an expensive corporate teambuilding program that costs the company thousands of dollars per employee.  Maybe it's because it's good for company karma. Whatever the reason, low-budget volunteer programs have been the answer for many corporations.  McCann, for example, has involved itself in a variety of volunteer programs that have led to one consistent result - positive feedback from employees.  "It is our feeling that to create an environment that includes volunteering is very stimulating to people and provides them with a very positive culture," says Kevin Allen, executive vice president for this advertising firm.

McCann has been involved with New York Cares, AIDS Walk and Breast Cancer Race for the Cure. "McCann volunteer programs give our employees an opportunity to express their desire to give of themselves," says Allen." Our employees are creative people and their environment and corporate culture is extremely important."  These efforts are paying off in the way of recruiting and retention.  "We are finding more and more that people are joining the company not just for the job and the money, but for a sense of shared culture," says Allen.

Time Warner has found similar results with its wildly successful
"Taking Time to Read" (TTR) literacy program. "The tutors get as much out of the sessions as the students. Everyone looks forward to the program," says Virginia McEnerney, Time's New York director of community affairs. It must be working because in 1985 TTR had 232 tutors and 179 participants. Today, the Time To Read program is at 300 Time Warner locations with 4,200 tutors and 16,250 enrolled. In September, Time to Read met its pledge to exceed one million hours of volunteer tutoring by the end of 1998.

TTR's growth in popularity mirrors the findings from The Points of Light Foundation. According to the study, only 600 companies were members of network volunteer councils in 1985. Now, there are more than 1,400 and the number is growing.

Adding room nights

Last March, 285 general managers from Fairfield Inns, a division of the Marriott Corp., reported for their annual meeting. Only this time, instead of wearing expensive suits and designer dresses, they wore overalls and worn-out T-shirts.

They arrived one day early in New Orleans not for a pre-meeting seminar or for chatter and cocktails, but to work on the construction and painting of five homes for Habitat for Humanity International. "The coordination of the effort in New Orleans was just amazing, and the response from the general managers (GM) was the biggest they ever had," says Debbie Kennedy, general manager of the Fairfield Inn in Frederick, Md., and a program participant. "There were so many
Fairfield Inn volunteers that, in addition to the Habitat homes, they worked a 16-block radius painting, cleaning and landscaping neighborhoods in need."

While these neighborhoods benefited, so did the GMs. "People
working in different departments got to know each other on a level other than work. The teambuilding effects of that day have carried on a year later," says Kennedy.

Seeing your co-workers true colors is a common and valuable
by-product of these efforts. "When a whole crew, employee and management alike, goes out and paints a public school together, it takes us out of this profit-and-loss place and into a more human place," says McCann's Allen. "That also allows us to motivate because they believe in us. They know that we're real folk with the same kind of interests and desires that they have."

"There is nothing like seeing your vice president up on a ladder with paint on his face," says The Points of Light's Hough. "It makes you realize not only that he's human, but that he has the same interests as you."

Since 1995, Fairfield Inns has contributed volunteer and labor funds toward the completion of 45 Habitat homes. However, of all the houses they've helped build, the one in New Orleans was the most special. Cynthia Augustine, a local resident and Habitat volunteer, was presented with the keys to her new home that day.

Augustine was thrilled by the GMs efforts. "I enjoy working with
Habitat because I know that they are based upon reaching out and giving people a hand in life," she says. "This is my life's dream, to have a new home for my children and my grandchildren."

Feel-good activity

With stress so prevalent in the workplace, the volunteer hours an employee puts in each month act as a tonic to the employee's well being.This, in turns, lessens the costs of health care.

This break away from the desk is invaluable. "As departments go through difficult, stressful periods, sometimes they just need an hour away from what they are working on. They go out and volunteer for an hour and come back refreshed," says Rose Tobin, manager of corporate contributions for the bank.

At the Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney Bowes, employees participate on local community boards, mentor children in after-school programs, participate in the Special Olympics and work together on neighborhood clean-up projects.

These projects help employees to get a strong perspective on work and life. "Community involvement has been a founding principle of the company and is part of our culture," says Sheryl Battles. executive director of external affairs. "It is a win-win situation for everyone involved.  Our employees get an increase in job satisfaction, an increase in personal worth and wellness and a greater sense of connectedness to the community overall. It helps them put their own life and their own blessings into perspective."

Connecting with community is also a driving factor behind Tobin's program. "Volunteering helps create the feeling of neighborhood for employees that commute or don't live in the immediate area," she says.

"Once volunteers work in local soup kitchens and schools, they begin to feel like part of the neighborhood where they work." Employees also find themselves making connections with their co-workers. Rich Palladino, director of employee giving/ volunteering for Pitney Bowes, holds many focus groups throughout the country. What he has discovered everywhere is the bond that volunteers make during the programs. "The teambuilding that goes on within Pitney Bowes is evident," he says. "Many of our employees work with each other via E-mail and the telephone. They never meet face-to-face. When they get involved in a volunteer opportunity outside of the company they often meet for the first time. And a lot of the time good friendships develop."

Take me to your leader

Often co-workers never get to see their counterparts display a
separate set of skills. In the workplace, they perform the job they are expected to do in a timely manner. However, in the thick of a volunteer program, sometimes unknown strengths will surface.  Companies are using this to their advantage, according to Hough.  "They're identifying employee skills they want to develop and then designing their programs to develop those skills," he says.  Deutsche's Tobin says, "When a manager is working alongside her secretary in a soup kitchen, he or she may exhibit skills that the manager never knew they possessed."

Pitney Bowes has also used this strategy. "Employees get the chance to develop their skills while benefiting the community through volunteer programs - whether it's speaking, teambuilding or project management skills," says Battles. "This adds value to the corporation."

Volunteer to volunteer

- City Cares of America is dedicated to developing hands-on
volunteer programs in 26 cities throughout the United States. Tel: 212-533-4734; Fax: 212-533-5687; E-mail: city_cares@nycares.com;
Web site: www.city.cares.org.

- Habitat for Humanity International works to eliminate poverty
housing and homelessness around the world.
Tel: 912-924-6935; 
Fax: 912-924-6541; E-mail: public_info@habitat.org
Web site: www.habitat.org.

- The Points of Light Foundation works with businesses to build
volunteer programs. Tel: 202-729-8000; Fax: 202-729-8100; Website: www.pointsoflight.org.

- Time to Read is Time Warner's volunteer literacy program. It is open to corporations, educational associations and community groups. Tel: 212-484-6410; Fax: 212-484-6417; E-mail: ttr@tw.timeinc.com; Web site: www.pathfinder.com/corp/ttr.

Additional reporting for this article was done by Rita Tiefert.