The third week in April is National Volunteer Week, an opportunity to thank volunteers across the country who keep charitable organizations running by providing the essential services that otherwise could not exist without their generous donations of time and talent.
But not everybody has enough free time to contribute to these charitable efforts. Many people have work and family commitments that make it difficult to volunteer, even if they know that volunteering would enrich their lives as well as the lives of others in their communities.
With this in mind, Perceptyx created a "Giving Back" team to encourage employees to donate their time to worthy causes – and provided 16 hours of paid volunteer time, or “Give Back Days,” each year. The causes that are important to our people are important to us, and we want to allow them to honor these commitments.
Commitments like Give Back Days enable organizations to do well by doing good. A 2015 study from The Lewis Institute for Social Innovation at Babson College indicates that businesses making a commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) programming could experience productivity increases by 13% while reducing turnover by up to 50%. Although CSR is a core value cutting across all demographics, the 2021 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey found that 70% of Millennials believe businesses are still focusing on their own agendas rather than considering the wider society – making CSR a huge value add and growth opportunity when it comes to attracting and retaining up-and-coming top talent.
Perceptyx’ team members have put our gift of time to good use. To show how powerful a program like Giving Back can be for organizations, we want to highlight some of their stories below.
Jennifer Conway, director of customer success at Perceptyx, put her talents to work for the Sausalito Marin City School District in Marin City, California. After years of community involvement with the school district as both a board member and an engaged parent, Jennifer used her volunteer time in 2021 to participate in the district’s annual holiday toy giveaway, during which she asked parents who had come to pick out donated toys to share their thoughts about a new name for the school that had been created from the unification of two previously separate schools.
Jennifer applied the skills from her work at Perceptyx to set up the survey and analyze the results. Thanks in part to Jennifer’s work, the school was renamed the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy, a decision that speaks to what she calls “a signal of positive change and hope for the integrated community school.”
For Jennifer, the ability to utilize paid time off for volunteering meant “this was the first time I volunteered during the daytime in a meaningful way, and it was a wonderful experience to be part of such a great event where I got to hear the voices of our community in person, even if it meant I spent eight hours outside in the rain…it was really wonderful to feel empowered to take time during the workday to volunteer.”
Jill Ost, a customer outcomes manager at Perceptyx, was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2018. During that time, her radiation oncologist shared a Project Pink’d “swag bag” with a coffee mug and some lotions to apply to her irradiated skin. She learned more about the group, which was locally based and provided financial support and learning opportunities such as cooking classes for cancer patients in Nebraska and Kansas.
Although she had attended Project Pink’d events previously, Jill used her volunteer time to actively participate in last November’s “Care to Share” Thanksgiving, driving to a few small towns outside Lincoln, Nebraska to provide meals to five breast cancer survivors – an event that was documented on the local news. Having an opportunity to donate her time to folks in precarious circumstances “reminded me that I am lucky, and that we as Perceptyx employees are lucky.”
Melody Plan, a product knowledge developer at Perceptyx, spent her Give Back Days playing video games – but did so for a good cause, using her Twitch stream to raise $1,760 that she donated to the San Diego Humane Society and Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary.
Melody attributed the success of her stream to choosing causes meaningful to her, finding the right audience, setting a reasonable donation goal, taking advantage of paid time off for volunteering, setting up a fundraising page, using incentives like personalized thank-you letters to drive engagement, and frequently reminding people who were interested in supporting her cause. Melody’s impressive level of planning and engagement demonstrates the value of having dedicated time to set aside for volunteer activities.
In December 2021, a group of Perceptyx team members used their time off to volunteer at a holiday gift donation event put on by CEDARS – a Nebraska-based child-service organization that helps parents, foster families, and partnering agencies.
Sarah Baltensperger, a professional services manager at Perceptyx who also volunteers in her local public schools, said the group effort “was incredibly rewarding” because of how much it meant “to give back and know that families were going to have gifts to open that may not have had them otherwise.” On top of that, “it was also nice to work with fellow colleagues that I don’t get to work with that often.”
Also in December, Perceptyx team members Katie Bonifas, Matt Tenopir, Shaun Soulliere, Bill Pegans, Michelle Holland, and Michaela Conway joined forces to volunteer at the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Center for People in Need. These colleagues worked together to assist with unboxing, sorting, organizing, and displaying holiday gifts for children of all ages.
Everyone wants to take pride in the organization for which they work. If people have positive perceptions of their organization’s operations and align with its methods and values, they are far more likely to be engaged in their work and dedicated to helping the business achieve its goals. Although value alignment matters across all generational cohorts, the 2021 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey found that 16% of Millennials and 14% of Gen Zs saw having values that align with those of their organizations as the most critical characteristic for successful businesses – and attracting and retaining young talent is a vital component for the long-term success of any organization.
From the beginning, our belief at Perceptyx has been that if we found the right people and treated them the right way good things will happen. When you adopt common-sense CSR policies like dedicated time off for daytime volunteering that will bring added meaning to people’s lives, good organizational culture – including the alignment of values – is a natural outcome.
Our policies are designed to truly care for employees and their families, and to reduce stress to enable maximum productivity. At Perceptyx, we know how to help our customers identify the policies that drive high engagement and help reduce voluntary turnover — and benefits like Give Back Days are one of the ways we practice what we preach. We can help your organization reduce attrition, increase engagement, and boost productivity using these same practices. Get in touch to learn more.
Interested in joining our team and taking advantage of benefits like Give Back Days? Check out our open positions and apply today!