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June 29, 2006
Prizes help "give a nudge" to volunteers
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Publication: Folha de S. Paulo
Juliana Garçon
Companies make donations to entities supported by employees. Companies see improvements in the productivity, humor and skills of employees engaged in volunteer projects.
Project competitions with prizes in money and products, training courses, slogans, publicity and time off during working hours; these are some of the mechanisms typically used to encourage sales performance, and other “aggressive” areas are beginning to also appear in corporate programs that encourage volunteer work.
According to managers and consultants, when employees become involved with voluntary service – unpaid activities in schools, hospitals and non-governmental organizations – companies perceive this as a way of perfecting their skills as leaders and team workers.
"A structured program provides the opportunity for training employees", stated Andrea Goldschmidt, from the consultancy company, Apoena Social. Rosangela Coelho, social responsibility assistant at Embraco, confirmed this when she said: "Many employees develop skills that make them more qualified to perform their functions, such as the ability to deal with challenges and new situations".
There are even productivity gains, as a result of the increase in employee motivation. "Companies that get involved in social projects tend to reduce staff churn and increase employee and stakeholder commitment to the company", said Silvina Ramal, a professor at FGV Management.
For the Belgo Foundation’s special programs manager, Leonardo Gloor, the increased motivation of employees "works in favor of the organizational climate and improves the company’s relationship with the community". Sirlene Toledo, community relations executive with IBM, sees "an increase in the quality of human capital" because of the encouragement to work in groups and the improvement in the self-esteem of the employees, who feel they are being useful to society.
"We can see the company growing before our very eyes", said Raquel Casimiro, accounts analyst with Bunge, who tells stories to 1st to 4th grade pupils in a Sao Paulo state school, in order to encourage reading and increase interest in lessons.
In tune
Research by Ipea [The Applied Economics Research Institute] on social actions, published in November 2001, indicates that a third of all Brazilian companies encourage the voluntary activities of their employees in some way or another. In companies with more than 100 employees the percentage rises to 40%. According to Anna Peliano, the institute’s social studies director, companies said that involvement with volunteer activities leads to preference when it comes to hiring and promoting people. "Companies say that employees are more in tune with the company’s mission and that there is an improvement in the employees’ relationship with their boss."
Some companies, like Phillips, give employees time off during their working hours for volunteer work. Luiz Delboux, a relationship marketing analyst at the company, has 4 hours a month to go to a public school to help with a student sexuality awareness program. "And the company pays our travel costs to get there."
Some companies select the initiatives to be supported. TRW, for example, adopted an Apae (Association of Parents and Friends of Exceptional Children) professionalization project: it installed an assembly line in the institution and frees up some hours during the working day so that employees can teach the apprentices.
Others encourage employees to present projects with which they identify in order to obtain the free time benefit, support material and sometimes prizes that are donated to the entities being supported.
Such is the case of Carrefour, which has set up prizes worth R$ 31,500. At Wal Mart the reward is R$ 50,000. In both companies it is the volunteers who compete, but the entities receive the funds. At IBM, on completing 40 hours of volunteer activities, the employee receives equipment for the institution being helped. At Alcoa, 50 hours of voluntary work outside working hours is worth a donation of US$ 250 for the institution.
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