How Giving and Volunteering Help Recruiting and Retention

As employers continue to look for ways to boost their recruiting and retention, one avenue that could lead to success is through giving and volunteering. Our human capital management partner, isolved, offers this look at how corporate giving programs can set you apart from other companies when it comes to attracting talent and keeping them on board.

Give a Little, Gain a Lot: How Giving & Volunteering Maps to DEI&B, Wellness & Well-Being, and Recruiting & Retention

The Ripple Effect of Employee Experience (EX)

Many employers are facing talent shortages in the aftermath of the pandemic. Not only are they encountering challenges hiring new employees, but also retaining current ones. In fact, research suggests more than 40 percent of workers across the globe are thinking about quitting their jobs – a movement that is being referred to as “The Great Resignation” in headlines shared across social media. And despite 92 percent of human resources (HR) leaders prioritizing employee experience this year, employee experience is likely playing a big role in talent acquisition and retention difficulties.

Many employees are re-evaluating their priorities and preferences after more than a year of workplace disruption. While flexible working environments – including remote work – are most certainly in demand, employees also want to feel good about where they work and what their employers do – both in the marketplace and within their communities. As a result, social-good programs are becoming a cornerstone of many employee experience initiatives and employers are discovering that corporate social responsibility maps out to other initiatives as well, including:

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
• Wellness & Well-Being
• Recruiting & Retention

Giving & Volunteering: Positive Social Impact, Positive EX

Employees want to be empowered to support the causes they are passionate about, yet isolved’s data shows that just 12 percent of employers offer giving and volunteering programs. With the rise in expectations for corporate social responsibility, many organizations are searching for ways to move past manual processes in favor of streamlined solutions that enable employees to self-serve and engage. A few staples of a modern social-good program include:

Automatic Deductions

61% of employees are likely to take advantage of charity donations that are deducted straight from their paycheck. (Source: isolved’s Benefits’ Big Impact whitepaper)

Giving and Volunteering

70% of employees believe volunteer activities are more likely to boost staff morale than company-sponsored happy hours. (Source: Deloitte Volunteer Impact Research)

Supporting Multiple Causes

66% of employees think it’s important for companies to be philanthropic and support different causes. (Source: Fidelity Investments’ Giving Together)

Although some organizations already support various giving and volunteering opportunities throughout the year, operationalizing programs beyond an Excel spreadsheet can be difficult. This is why many HR departments are turning to technology to track donations, log volunteer hours, communicate impact and manage IRS compliance. Technology that enables management of philanthropic efforts – and intelligently connects to the employee journey – makes it simple to generate reports that highlight employee engagement and payroll integration metrics as well as totals for corporate and individual contributions. This data can then be used to support other initiatives, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) efforts.

DEI&B: Committing to Causes that Matter

Employees perform their best when they feel their best, and that starts with a working environment where they are comfortable being their true selves. This is why it is essential for HR teams to continuously work on DEI&B initiatives within their enterprise.

While there is a lot to consider when shaping out DEI&B plans (learn how setting up an internal committee can help by clicking here ), philanthropic efforts that support the unique causes employees care about can go a long way in showcasing a commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace. This is important because giving and volunteering are personal to many employees, in fact:

• 59% of employees have been personally affected by the cause(s) they champion/support.
• 50% of employees want to show others in their households how supporting charities can make a difference. (Source: Fidelity Investments’ Giving Together)

By tying social-good programs to organizational values, employers are better able to support their people and foster an inclusive working environment. This is especially true when programs empower employees to choose the causes they engage with – including those that fold into DEI&B initiatives. HR departments can track the impact being made with technology that reports on company-matched dollars and volunteer events. The results can be highlighted both internally and externally, which can also boost the overall reputation of an organization.

Although this outlines the role social good plays in DEI&B, social good can also impact the wellness and well-being of a workforce.

Wellness & Well-Being: Doing Good, Feels Good

Employee wellness is being prioritized by more employers as they look for ways to improve the employee experience. These efforts ramped up at the start of the pandemic, with many organizations connecting with remote workforces through digital wellness activities like virtual yoga or meditation sessions. Although social distancing recommendations have relaxed, these wellness activities still serve a purpose as employees continue to cope with the stress of the pandemic and move on in the world’s new normal. Plus, isolved research shows that prioritizing wellness is well received by employees – with only 15 percent noting that they don’t think wellness needs to play a role at work.

But how does wellness connect to social good? Simple – when you do good, you feel good. In fact, a survey conducted by Fidelity reveals that 78 percent of employees say that supporting charities makes them feel good. It’s important to keep in mind that there is a business case for keeping employees happy too, with research from Glassdoor finding a link between employee well-being and customer satisfaction.

Do you know what else is great about happy employees? They are easier to retain and are more likely to help with recruiting efforts.

Recruiting & Retention: A Cultural Shift

Corporate social responsibility is becoming more important to modern workforces, which means that an organization’s social-good program could quite literally be the deciding factor for a candidate looking to accept a position. In fact, 55% of employees look favorably at companies that offer a social-good program as part of their benefits packages. (Source: isolved’s Benefits’ Big Impact whitepaper)

And remember when we mentioned reputation earlier? That also plays a role in recruiting, even when there isn’t a “campaign” around one specific giving or volunteering event. Keep in mind that in today’s digital world, employees are likely to discuss how their employers give back to the community on social media and employer review sites. These sites are often searched by prospective employees deciding whether or not to apply – or accept a position – with an organization.

Social-good programs also impact retention. Not only are happier employees less likely to be actively searching for new jobs, but 58 percent of employers say that workplace giving programs are somewhat or very important to retaining talent (source: Fidelity).

Also worth noting is that a workplace where employees want to work is a sign of an organization with a good culture. And it just so happens that isolved’s Holiday Report found that 40 percent of employees say culture is more important this year than it has been in the past.

Give a Little, Gain a Lot

Employee experience is in the spotlight and employers are doing their best to engage their workforces in new and improved ways. While corporate social responsibility is only one piece of the puzzle, a comprehensive social-good program with the right supporting technology will have a ripple effect throughout an organization – not only boosting the employee experience but also DEI&B, wellness, recruitment, and retention initiatives in the process. In other words, there is a lot to gain by simply empowering your workforce to give back.

How GTM Can Help Your Giving and Volunteering Efforts

Available to GTM’s clients through the isolved People Cloud, isolved Giving & Volunteering attracts talented candidates who want to connect with their communities through direct donations and volunteerism with charitable causes. Now employers of all sizes can initiate and manage corporate philanthropy initiatives that had previously been an option only for big organizations with large budgets and human resource departments. provides both employees and employers what they are asking for—alignment with charitable causes plus simple, seamless methods for managing giving programs, processing contributions, and reporting social impact.

Request a quote for a free consultation and more information.