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Clients often ask us: “how do we create and maintain a positive organisational culture?”

In the 13 years we’ve been operating, the answer hasn’t been identical for any two clients - no two businesses are ever the same. But the one theme that’s common to the otherwise bespoke solutions we’ve delivered has been to define, communicate, and live your values.

‘Giving Back’ as a Core Value

People are far more likely to feel engaged when there’s purpose to their work - and that can be both in the role itself and in the products & solutions your organisation delivers. There’s one more way to add purpose to the employee experience: your organisation’s work can often be an opportunity to regularly give back to your local community, or even to global projects, positively improving the lives of fellow humans all over the world.

If you’re open to taking this view of your organisation, then you should consider enshrining ‘Giving Back’ as a core value. Remember, however you choose to word and define it in your ‘Core Values’ charter, it’s important to communicate it to everyone when they join, at major touchpoints throughout the year, and most importantly, for you to lead by example, by living this core value.

Where To Start With ‘Giving Back’?

In practice, ‘Giving Back’ takes two general forms. One form is to perpetually donate a small percentage of revenue to a charity/cause that you support and that aligns with your values. For example, if you’re a baker, 5% from every loaf of bread sold, or if you’re running a subscription model, 25% of the first invoice when someone signs for 12 months. The other form is more event/project based: occasionally hosting fundraisers, sponsoring local sports/social clubs, and for larger operations, investing in a more formal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program - taking responsibility for the economic, social and environmental impacts of your work through various projects.

The Benefits of ‘Giving Back’

Whichever of these forms you choose, the benefits of 'Giving Back' are four-fold - at least.

'Giving Back’ ...

1. first and foremost, and most importantly, does good in the world. Whether it’s protecting the natural environment, helping treat or fund research into an illness, helping people in war-torn or developing parts of the world, or even local community projects, 'Giving Back' is a benefit and an end in itself.
2. adds purpose to your employee experience. Your people are at their best when they are engaged - when they care about their work, are good at it, and when they care about your organisation’s goals too. Living the core value of ‘Giving Back’ - knowing that their work will also help fund good in the world - adds an engagement boost.
3. adds a personal, positive tone to your organisation’s positioning, through genuine means. Rather than your marketing collateral being services, product features, spec sheets and price lists, ‘Giving Back’ is an opportunity to share with your prospects and clients the fact that you’re living, breathing, caring people, out there doing good in the world.
4. is infectious, like a smile. People are social beings. We innately understand the good in doing good, in giving back, and seeing you lead by example in your own company, you’ll be planting the seed for others to do the same - to adopt and live this laudable core value in their organisation.

Case Study:
Employee Matters

We’re going to use ourselves as the case study for this blog, because we practise what we preach, and at Employee Matters, we are definitely passionate about giving back!

We are lifetime members of B1G1, a program that helps businesses around the world create tangible, real impacts in our world every single day. Check out the adjacent panel for a summary of our impacts to date!

Another way for us to give back was during Christmas, when we gave our team time off to volunteer locally and support charities close to their hearts. Below, we look at how two of our employees chose to use that time: