How to engage employees in your CSR activities

When your people buy into your mission you can do so much more.

As corporate social responsibility (CSR) becomes more integral to an organization’s way of doing business, it’s more critical that employees are engaged in the process. Otherwise, CSR initiatives run the risk of being seen as lip service, and that’s not a good look.

You need your people fired up and buying in to effect maximum social change and get the most out of your CSR. You need to create champions for the cause, starting with these five steps to nail the initial internal rollout.

1. Give your people the why, what, and wow

By communicating the reasons WHY you are doing it, you immediately involve them in the process by getting them to buy into a stance that ideally links back to your core values and  purpose. Then, by sharing the WHAT, you give them an opportunity to get involved. The WOW is the pay-off: the good things happening because of their efforts. You should be shouting these from the rooftops.

2. Make it personal

Whenever possible, make it an employee campaign rather than something that might feel like it is being dictated by management. When you genuinely hand over ownership of a project, you’ll be amazed what you get back.

Our campaign for the Region of Peel’s annual Employee United Way Campaign included the region’s employees as part of the strategy. By celebrating the great work their employees were doing in the community alongside the work United Way does in Peel, we showed how working together contributes to a thriving community and a comfortable, safe and progressive place to live. And we showed employees how donating money or time could amplify this work.

3. Make it a campaign

To make CSR part of your brand’s DNA, it has to be present at various touchpoints for your employees. A mix of digital and traditional communications tactics along with intranet messaging, e-newsletters and even social media will help keep them up to date. 

But don’t stop there. Posters in your elevators, tent cards in your lunchroom and decals on washroom mirrors are all traditional ways to make your campaign present and part of the fabric of your organization. Make sure you’re communicating to every employee in the easiest way for them. For example, capturing the attention of those who work in the field, or are not at desks all day, requires place-based communications such as vehicle mirror danglers or decals and posters.

4. Make it worth their while

Build in incentives and acknowledgment for participation. Provide feedback. Reward creativity. Recognize leadership. When your CSR is firing on all cylinders it can do wonders for employee engagement and overall morale.

5. Use all the tools at your disposal

Virtually all charities and causes would love to help you with your CSR initiatives. Many have professionally created turn-key toolkits waiting to be put into action. 

One campaign we created for Daily Bread Food Bank provides everything a company needs to run a successful food and donation drive. Beyond this poster, the employee in charge of the food drive received a handbook filled with tips to inspire participation.

Above all, do good

It’ll always make you happy. And we know this because we do good every day. Maybe we can do some good with you? Let’s talk about it.