649A Look at Volunteers from within the Workplace
posted on November 23rd, 2009
A volunteers’ sense of friendship can tie their community together more closely, and as you’d expect it will support those who can’t support themselves. However, scheduling this is often rather tricky, and before you know it you don’t have half as long at your disposal to actually do some good. This is a call for companies to take a cue from far-sighted firms like Connecticut’s Adaptive Marketing LLC. In addition to shopping programs including Shopping Essentials designed for the benefit of consumers, Adaptive Marketing organizes local volunteer activity so that its employees have the time to reach out to the local community. If you were asked for examples of company-backed volunteer work, you’d most likely talk in terms of blood drives, perhaps an annual call for donations, but this is simply no longer true. Running shoe recycling initiatives and more energetic efforts like tree planting events - these are just some of the activities that have been organized by Adaptive Marketing for its employees. By centralizing the organization individual initiatives grew into larger events, with specific times, dates, and locations published in advance to help volunteers with their time management.
The spirit of volunteering means a choice between initiatives, of course. At Adaptive Marketing, the people who brought you Shopping Essentials, staffers are presented with the chance to choose from a wide range of volunteer events. Members of staff may find themselves community projects in arts, working with children and young adults, working on green initiatives etc. Adaptive Marketing’s employees are presented with such a choice that they’re sure to find a project they’ll enjoy taking part in, making their time fun as well as effective.
If firms recommend their members of staff to consider volunteering at local schools or homeless shelters, it is frequently during a specific event or a regular undertaking. What this means is if you’ve merely got enough time to assist at a Saturday morning park clean-up, you’ve still got plenty of time to help. Business history is full of examples of firms finding ways of helping the citizens of their home town. The activities of the staffers at Adaptive Marketing create goodwill in their home town. Helping around your home town can make you feel much better about yourself - just the sort of feeling to motivate employees in both their volunteer work and back behind their desks. It’s our hope that by now the rewards for everyone involved of a company-sponsored volunteer drive are are self-evident.
