Winner: EMD Serono, Inc. - Making a Difference in Society
To make community-based volunteerism accessible to all employees and to integrate community relations into the corporate culture, the communications team at EMD Serono launched the Making a Difference in Society campaign. By offering community service opportunities on company time and providing a wide range of opportunities for employees get involved, EMD Serono saw more than a 60% engagement rate in company activities. A variety of initiatives and emergency response drives enabled employees to provide assistance to those in need, including a team-building event packaging relief baskets destined for Haiti and Chile.
Employee involvement was further encouraged by engaging entire departments in activities with philanthropic twists, including bike-building events for children at the local Boys & Girls Club, cooking for cancer patients and their families at the Hope Lodge in Boston and cleaning beaches as part of the Massachusetts clean-up effort Coastsweep. —BM
Honorable Mentions:
Coca-Cola HBC Croatia - Bike to Work: To promote cycling as a healthy and cheap means of transportation for their employees, Coca-Cola HBC Croatia provided bicycles for complimentary use. Both employees and managers took part in the project, giving them an opportunity to socialize and improve internal relations through traffic regulations quizzes and competing on a special bicycle testing course, resulting in 90% of the bicycles being constantly rented out during the program.
Deloitte - Greening the Dot: “Greening the Dot,” Deloitte’s national sustainability initiative, supports young people with the tools and understanding they need to be responsible and leaders. Nearly 29,000 people participated in the “How green is your footprint?” survey, and Corporate Responsibility 2.0 saw a young group of fellows at Deloitte determine what CR should look like to be sustainable for greening the next generation.
Ernst & Young - Volunteer Wall of Fame: Ernst & Young’s Volunteer Wall of Fame captured the energy and commitment of 16 Ernst & Young professionals on a “physical” wall displayed at large internal training events and a “virtual wall” viewed by thousands of employees via intranet. Each honoree personified the core tenets of Ernst & Young’s CRS strategy thought a commitment to skills-based volunteerism and environmental sustainability.