40%: Percentage of employers that have increased funding for programs to help employees give back to their communities.
As workplace giving programs continue to increase in popularity, employers are expanding and applying more resources to these plans, according to Fidelity Investments and the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP). Not only have 40% of employers said they increased funding for workplace giving programs in the past two years, but another 36% say they’ve maintained their level of funding, with only 4% noting the level decreased at some point over the last two years.
What this means for HR
As employers continue to add charitable giving programs to their benefits platforms, the Fidelity/ACCP study found three-quarters of employers indicated that giving back to the community was one of the most important reasons to offer a workplace giving program.
This is compared to nearly half of the companies surveyed (49%) that ranked the company’s mission/values as one of the most important reasons to offer a workplace giving program, and 39% of companies that cited employee retention and engagement as one of their top reasons.
Read more on employee engagement
“In today’s business environment, organizations understand that being good corporate citizens can play a key role in many areas that contribute to the organization’s internal and external success,” says Jesse Moore, vice president of Fidelity Workplace Giving and Enablement. “We’ve also seen that workplace giving platforms can be an effective way to help employees make an immediate impact on the causes they support within their own community.”
With many employers increasingly recognizing that culture is far more than just a buzzword, Carolyn Berkowitz, president and CEO of ACCP, echoes similar trends she sees across the organization’s membership.
“Companies understand that, now more than ever, social and economic issues are important to their workforce and other stakeholders,” she adds. “In just the first six months of this year, we’ve seen an unprecedented level of support and engagement for these issues, and companies want to create that connection with their employees, customers and communities.”