Most companies think they’re doing employee volunteering well. They’re not.

Most companies think they’re doing employee volunteering well. They’re not.

Welcome to part 1 of my mini-series: How to actually become best-in-class in corporate impact (from inside the room). ✨

In a recent corporate impact strategy sprint with a nationwide brand, I saw a common challenge: when it came to employee volunteering, good intentions were slipping because of unequal access. Salaried corporate staff had a policy for 8 hours of paid volunteer time, but hourly plant workers were left out due to production constraints.

The Low-Hanging Fruit: I helped them create a simple "in-scope" checklist, defining exactly what counts as volunteering so local teams don't have to guess.

And because it's important to me that companies do more than just the basics, to really show up with their communities, I gave them an additional move to become best in class here.

The Best-in-Class Move: To become best-in-class with employee volunteering, I laid out a roadmap for them to launch a "Dollars for Doers" program for all employees (finally complementing that salaried-only PTO).💡

Equity in volunteerism isn't just nice to have. It's essential for retention.