HR’s Evolving Role in Employee Engagement Through Corporate Social Impact

BY Wanly Chen | August 18, 2023

In a recent survey on corporate social responsibility (CSR), a staggering 93% of employees believe companies must lead with good purpose. Today’s employees want their companies to do well in society.

The research points to major benefits for companies with both CSR and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives. With both consumers and employees evaluating companies based on their corporate impact work, companies must do more.

During From Day One’s August virtual conference, Ben Sampson, co-founder and CEO of WeHero, now part of WizeHive, led a thought leadership spotlight session on the topic, titled “HR’s Evolving Role in Employee Engagement Through Corporate Social Impact.” At WizeHive, a grants and scholarships management software, Sampson sits with leaders to discuss how to develop impactful and engaging CSR and ESG strategies.

Working With Leadership

Establishing and continuing CSR and ESG initiatives requires tangible investing that is contingent on leadership’s support. Leaders need to see the value of such programs and their impact, a task that leans heavily on HR leaders, Sampson said.

In companies with successful CSR and ESG initiatives, increased employee retention and satisfaction are a few benefits that companies reap. In a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, researchers found 86% of workers who work for organizations with ESG-related goals said they were proud to work at their company and reported an increased affinity and loyalty to their companies.

When an employee leaves, companies can spend up to 33% of their salary to replace and train a new worker. With employees quitting at an all-time high in the last few years, HR leaders have had to learn and adopt new strategies such as implementing CSR and ESG initiatives to attract and retain their employees.

Ben Sampson, co-founder and CEO of WeHero (part of WizeHive), led the thought leadership spotlight (company photo)

“We know that the average employee volunteers about 52 hours per year, and we know there’s 35% lower turnover when we have really successful programs in place for social impact and volunteerism,” Sampson said. “The average cost of turnover per employee in the US is around $15,000. We know that for every hour that an employee volunteers, that saves companies an average of $110.”

The benefits of having CSR and ESG initiatives are beyond just the workplace. Nearly 90% of American consumers are likely to switch brands supporting a good cause, showing that CSR and ESG initiatives are not only beneficial for retaining and attracting talent but also for attracting consumers. When developing CSR and ESG strategies, HR leaders need to emphasize how it can be a win-win situation for the company. “The closer you align the social impact goals with the business goals, the more buy-in and support you will get from leadership,” Sampson said.

Engaging With Employees

Employee engagement is also important in successful CSR and ESG initiatives. When engaging with employees, early activation may help in building long-term engagement, Sampson says.

“This is, for example, a new cohort of employees that are coming in and engaging with them right out the gate about social impact programs,” Sampson said. “If you do that successfully, it'll be much easier to engage them throughout the rest of their tenure at the company.”

By activating employee engagement early, employees are more likely to engage with future volunteer opportunities as well as become volunteer or social impact ambassadors, Sampson said. Doing so can help grow and scale CSR and ESG efforts.

“Volunteer or social impact ambassadors are actively promoting volunteer and engagement social impact efforts throughout the company by building programs and events and providing input,” Sampson said. “It’s your employee base that you've strategically planned and engaged with that's taking these programs forward and making a huge amount of impact.”

Measuring Impact

To ensure continual investment in CSR and ESG initiatives, HR leaders need to measure its impact and effectiveness. Through proper documentation, HR leaders are equipped with strong statistical data that supports the benefits of CSR and ESG initiatives.

“We can correlate the data that you’re getting from social impact within the company to engagement, retention, and attracting new talent. It becomes a really powerful use case for leadership to get more funding and support for this,” Sampson said. “Even if you don't have a CSR or an ESG team, we’re seeing CSR and ESG teams being built as a result of having this data.”

In addition to tracking volunteer hours and the number of programs, Sampson recommends surveying employees after a volunteer engagement experience. This data allows HR leaders to understand the employee’s thoughts on the experience and their company.

“I always recommend that you survey employees after the volunteer engagement experiences, about the importance not just of the volunteer engagement effort, but how it relates to how they feel about their company and their brand,” Sampson said. “Questions like ‘Are you more excited to work for your company as a result of this program? How often do you want to have these opportunities to volunteer and engage in it?’ can provide incredibly valuable data.”

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, WizeHive, for sponosoring this thought leadership spotlight. 

Wanly Chen is a writer and poet based in New York City. 

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