Best Practices for Philanthropic Employee Relations Initiatives

When looking to launch your own employee relations campaign around a CSR initiative, don’t overlook the following key components, as identified and described by Beth Courtier, head of BT’s Charity Program, and Joanna Sheehy, project manager at Lumina, based on their work for BT’s Community Champions program:

•    Best fit: “When launching an employee relations campaign, it is vital to ensure the best fit. Constant evaluation of programs ensures you are giving employees what they want and/or need. Then, respond to any queries and act on suggestions immediately.”
•    Top-level support: “Employee benefit schemes should be embedded into the company’s HR/CSR objectives.”
•    Inclusiveness: “Although it isn’t always possible to run identical programs across regions, countries and lines of business, inclusiveness should be at the forefront of everything you do. It is important that employee benefit schemes are accessible to everyone in the organization. Your Web site is one way to facilitate worldwide participation.”
•    Recognition: “It is important to recognize the good work people are doing. The BT Chairman’s Awards actually offer personal recognition from the top; these awards are the only ones that BT Chairman Sir Michael Rake personally judges and attends the ceremonies to present the honors.”
•    Use of technology: “Whilst we employ a combination of traditional and interactive communications channels to recruit employees, we have also developed a system of online judging. This means that judges can review applications in their own time, which has enabled greater diversity on our judging panel and has presented cost savings for the business.”