How Business Philanthropy Can Increase Remote Employee Morale
Are you trying to improve remote employee morale? Many remote employees start to feel disconnected from their company’s operations. While work-from-home employees generally have better employee morale and job satisfaction, they still need to be continually engaged to preserve company culture and improve company operations. Today, we’re going to take a look at how business philanthropy can be used to generally improve remote employee morale.
Building Strong Company Culture in a Remote-Work World
Many employees are demanding at-home work. Even if they have to come into the office occasionally, they want flextime policies and they want to be able to WFH. Those who are working completely remotely need to be able to connect to the company and their colleagues wherever they are. They need accessibility; they need to be able to feel as though they’re included.
Remote work can introduce challenges when it comes to company culture. Company culture is a very important part of a business; it’s the identity of a business, its mission and its values. But that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to create a strong company culture in a remote-work world. It just means that companies need to take the initiative.
How engaged are your employees? When employees are less engaged, they’re more likely to leave a company. Remote workers tend to be among the most disengaged just because they aren’t actively working with their teammates.
When companies don’t engage their employees, employees may not be able to work effectively together. They may not really understand what the company or its mission is. They may find themselves looking for opportunities that they “believe in” more.
Encouraging Team Charity Work to Improve Morale
A lot of employees feel closer to a business when they feel that they can give back to their community. Team charity isn’t just a bonding experience between coworkers; it’s also a way for them to feel like they’re doing good and really changing the world.
The more the team charity aligns with the company’s goals and other initiatives, the more they’ll believe in the business itself. An IT company that invests in future IT workers, like Red River, is a company that’s easier to believe in; it’s a company that’s doing its best to further the community through technology.
But there’s a problem, of course: It can be difficult for companies to work together on charity if everyone is remote. When employees are remote, how do they reach out to the same charities? How can they work together as a team?
That’s where programs like the RRCF can come in.
The Red River Charitable Foundation (RRCF) Helps Employees Find Charitable Work Where They Are
The Red River Charitable Foundation (RRCF) does things like providing support to students in the form of scholarships regardless of where they are. This is an excellent example of a national-level program that can be implemented to keep employees happy and satisfied with their work.
Ask your employees: If you aren’t sure what type of charitable giving they’re interested in, consider polling them. Often, employees have their own pet charities, may be interested in specific types of charitable giving or may have just heard about great programs that they’re already interested in.
Employees can find charitable work where they are through initiatives such as team-based charity fundraiser. Companies can give employees paid time to spend on charitable efforts and have teams work together to meet certain goals (such as 10 hours of charity every week during the holiday season). Companies can also schedule these charitable efforts during their slower times, so it doesn’t adversely impact work rates.
Employees can also compete to raise funds with other teams — while the employees will win, so will the charities. There are many ways to engage remote team members today toward a common goal. And, of course, donations toward charities are tax-deductible, which can help the company preserve its bottom line.
Building Community Trust through Business Philanthropy
Charitable giving is not just for the benefit of charities and employees. It also helps both the community and business. Business philanthropy also increases the amount of trust that a company has in the community. Further, it increases visibility. The more work you do in charitable giving, the more visible you will be within your space. Not only does that improve your company culture, but it also brings in additional prospective clients — and builds trust and loyalty.
Everyone wants to work with companies that are set on giving back. And giving back is easier than ever today, as there are so many opportunities online and globally to help.
At Red River, we understand how important it is to have a company that cares. Employee morale and motivation are strongly connected to both business philosophy and business philanthropy. With the right strategic philanthropy in business operations, companies can build company morale, company culture and employee retention.
Want to learn more? Check out the Red River Charitable Foundation to find out more about what we do to support our community. You can start building up employee morale and motivation today.
