In this guest post, we hear from Ross Treakle, Co-Founder of OneDonation. Keep reading to learn four ways you can incorporate corporate social responsibility into your organizational culture to enhance your recruiting and retention efforts in 2020.

In 2016, Millennials took over as the largest generation in the U.S. workforce. In 2020, Millennials are forecast to comprise over half of the workforce. When you combine millennials and the even younger Gen Z entering the workforce with the retirement of Baby Boomers, employees are getting younger, and businesses need to be prepared to recruit this tech-savvy, forward-thinking generation.

In order to successfully recruit the next generation of employees, businesses must embrace Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The implications of CSR reach far beyond the fuzzy feelings associated with giving to charity. A successful CSR program can impact everything from sales and public perception to employee retention and recruitment.

The State of Corporate Social Responsibility

Though corporate social responsibility certainly isn’t new, it has become a more pressing factor for reputation and recruiting—and the data supports this. For millennials specifically:

• 63% give to charity (Deloitte)
• 43% actively volunteer (Deloitte)
• 32% would consider leaving a job if their employer gave too little to charity (Undercover Recruiter)
• 50% of new hires say that CSR policies influenced whether or not they accepted a job (Undercover Recruiter)
• 53% want to work for a company with a mission to make a difference in the world (Case Foundation)

In a recent article from Business Roundtable, nearly 200 CEOs stated that shareholder value is no longer their main objective.

So, what made the list of new business objectives?

“Supporting the communities in which we work” 

This is a clear sign of the times in which we now do business–corporate social responsibility is a business pillar that cannot be ignored.

How do you create and cultivate a culture that embraces CSR? 

You’re in luck—we’ve got your roadmap. As a company that specializes in creating a frictionless donation process, we know the ropes when it comes to incorporating CSR into culture.

1.) Know Your Business

The first step to creating a successful CSR program is to identify what categories of nonprofits match your company’s mission and work. No one knows your business better than you, so this step should be pretty easy. Is your company veteran owned? Do you have an open policy for employees to bring dogs to work? Are you a utility company that could support water conservation efforts? Consider your corporate culture and align your values with a cause that is related to that mission.

For example, at One Donation, we connect corporate social responsibility to employee engagement through paperless payroll deduction donations. For our company, being paperless is important, so we plant a tree the first time a client’s employee gives a payroll donation to a non-profit.

2.) Know Your Employees

The next step in developing a CSR program for recruiting is to know your employees. What are their interests? What nonprofits do they already support? In smaller companies, you can easily ask questions directly to your employees. In larger companies, you may choose to interview a few employees viewed as influencers in your company. Or, you could send a survey to all employees to identify important non-profit categories or specific non-profits that they already support.

At One Donation, we are fortunate to have a corporate social responsibility consultant that serves on our board. Since we are a small company, she individually interviewed each member of our team to identify what causes were important to us as individuals. She has used this information to develop our CSR policy.

What are your organizational values, and how can creating a more robust and transparent CRS policy help support those? When done correctly, Corporate Social Responsibility will be your #1 recruiter.

Ross Treakle, Co-Founder, OneDonation

The One Donation platform increases engagement by empowering employees to support the causes that matter the most to them with payroll deduction donations. One Donation can integrate directly into most HR and/or payroll platform eliminating ‘friction’​ and paperwork often associated with workplace giving campaigns. In addition, all transactions are recorded in a distributed blockchain, ensuring that all parties involved have complete transparency in the flow of funds. Learn more at https://onedonation.org/.

Connect with Ross on LinkedIn