Many boards will simply buy into various CSR initiatives in an attempt to position themselves as a caring, community centric business which any potential client or employee will want to be involved with. However, I think it is often overlooked that such projects are actually highly valuable in the talent management process.
If we consider the objective of any CSR piece it’s perhaps an obvious one. The aim is to bring together a team or business to give back to the community and help others. If we consider the latter part, being able to do more as a member of staff outside the organisation that positively contributes to others will, in most cases, lead to greater motivation. Not to mention the pride this instils in the company brand.
What is potentially more important, though, is the first part of the objective; charity and community initiatives bringing staff together as a team.
Perhaps now would be a great moment to shed some light on why I’m writing about this topic. Only last week the team at ReThink Talent Management took part in a charity event, with one of our clients, Marks & Spencer. Partnering with M&S and care home operator Abbeyfield, we developed the concept of ‘A Cup of IT’.
Designed to help care home residents enjoy the benefits of technology, this event saw 70 volunteers visit 17 care homes across the South East. The team spent the afternoon showing over 200 residents how to research old war stories, relive favourite sporting moments, reconnect with friends & families and view images of memorable places from their past.
What really struck me throughout the day was the impact this had on the employees from all parties involved who had given up their valuable time on the day. There was a real air of achievement from the group with all participants leaving feeling they had contributed to a fantastic cause, all on behalf of their employer.
And if there’s any better way to encourage group working skills than a team building day, this was certainly it. We had groups of individuals from four different companies working together across multiple locations, not to mention the activity put in during the planning phase.
So why is this important for HR professionals? As a business function that is often struggling against corporate processes in order to improve the people element of an organisation, perhaps CSR initiatives are the first step in reconnecting the company and talent agenda. At the absolute minimum, such a project will engage staff and help build your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). When we consider CSR projects from this angle, are organisations perhaps missing a trick by under-valuing the talent management potential?
