What if, for your employees to be fully fulfilled, you offered them to engage in a good action? The idea is attracting more and more companies, and for good reason: solidarity commitment is beneficial for both employees and decision-makers, while serving the general interest. We are going to explain to you in more detail what solidarity commitment consists of, and reveal to you why it is so interesting to encourage it within organizations themselves. You will finally discover the different ways to implement this solidarity commitment in business.
What is solidarity commitment?
A commitment to the general interest
Solidarity commitment is a set of mobilization actions for the general interest.
When we speak of “solidarity commitment in business”, we therefore refer to societal and associative actions carried out by the company. More and more often, this implies employee participation in them.
There are various ways to get involved, which we will detail later. The beneficiaries are generally associations, foundations or even local authorities. The 3 most supported areas are social, cultural and educational. They are followed by sport and health.
French people ready to invest
On average, associations collect 7.5 billion euros per year. 40% of these donations come from businesses.
There are 13 million volunteers in France, and 38% of French people say ready to volunteer their time for a cause they support.
It is in this context that solidarity commitment is becoming more and more often at the heart of businesses.
Employees who want to be more and more involved
A recent study (2020), conducted by BCG and IOSOS, shows that 91% of graduates are looking for work in a company that matches their values. They want more and more To provide a service to society and find meaning in their missions.
Since the COVID-19 crisis, this desire has expanded. Successive lockdowns have given employees the opportunity to do real introspection, and many now want to invest in projects that are important to them.
A study by the consulting firm Korn Ferry revealed that 73% of French employees would like their company offers them to commit themselves to work.
The benefits of solidarity commitment for businesses
Solidarity can be a very good HR driver. Here are the main interests for a company to develop it among its employees.
First of all, solidarity commitment meets a real need on their part. This allows bothattracting new talent, looking for a company that matches their values. But it also has the advantage of withhold employees who are already present. You can include your commitment to the company's core values, and incorporate that into your employer brand.
Solidarity commitment can also be a component of your CSR policy. You can even involve your employees in this process.
Finally, it can allow your employees to develop new skills, which they will eventually be able to transpose into their daily missions. It can also help them to value themselves, to feel useful and to be more involved in the life of the company, and simply to thrive.
Establishing a commitment to solidarity in business
You now know the importance of solidarity, both for employees and for your company. Now here are the different ways to set it up.
Offer time
The first way to get involved in solidarity is to offer time, and especially skills, to associations or foundations.
In concrete terms, this means that employees use their knowledge to help carry out missions of general interest. For example, a person who knows how to edit videos can take time to create some of them in order to feed the social networks of an association.
Giving your time is what we call skills sponsorship. As a company, you can definitely offer interested employees to spend half a day per month, on their working time, helping an organization that needs their talents or know-how for a particular mission.
Donate money
It can also simply be a matter of making a monetary donation to an association. It's the financial sponsorship.
According to a Day One study, 78% of business decision-makers or managers want to do this. It's an easy, and fairly quick, way to do a good thing for those who need it.
However, even if this act is entirely commendable, 90% of the employees surveyed would prefer to do skills sponsorship. Their search for meaning goes through a personal commitment with the organization. They want To be an actor, and do not recognize themselves in the money donated by their company to an association.
Facilitate solidarity commitment in companies through tools
You can also choose a hybrid solution between these two ideas: the implementation of a crowdfunding platform. That's what Teamstarter offers.
The principle is simple. Each employee of the company can propose a project that is close to their heart. For example, this may be linked to the quality of life at work or a solidarity action. On a monthly basis, your company allocates a budget to each employee. He can then invest it in the project of his choice. Once the financial objective has been reached, the project leader Take action to achieve it. This allows employees who want engage in solidarity to do so, while being financially supported by their company.
In recent years, solidarity commitment has become a real demand from employees, who want to find more meaning in their work. Businesses have every interest in implementing solutions to allow those who wish to do so to invest in actions of general interest. Tools like the Teamstarter platform can allow you to do that. Very simply. If you want to go further, you can set up intrapreneurship (a project within a company), or even create a business foundation in line with your field of expertise. It's up to you to see what best suits your needs, but one thing is certain: you must offer your employees one or more ways to Commit jointly and severally if you want to retain them.
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