Picture this scenario, it is nearing the end of January, a month filled with new beginnings, better habit forming, and focus on commitment to a better version of you. When suddenly you realize it’s about to be February. The month dedicated to love. This time of year can be stressful for employees as dizzying thoughts regarding loneliness are circulating through their minds. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way because celebrating love can look however you want it to, whether that is going to dinner with friends, meeting new people in the city you just moved to or engaging with your community through volunteerism. Celebrating love of others and loving yourself is much simpler than it seems this time of year.

Self-love comes in many forms. For some, it is a bubble bath and a face mask, while others enjoy going to the gym as their form of self-love. We tend to forget that one of the best ways to improve our own lives is by helping others. In a journal written by Francesca Borgonovi, she directly addresses the effect that volunteering has on happiness and wellbeing. Through her research, she discovers that people who volunteer are 7-16% more likely to be happy. When we volunteer, we are developing bonds with the people we are volunteering with and the people we are volunteering for. Additionally, volunteering provides an opportunity for success and skill development, which directly impact our feelings of competence and self-confidence.

Human Connection

When we choose to go out and volunteer our time and our skills for our own community, we are given the opportunity to make new connections and strengthen the connections that we already have. Human connection is critical to our ability to feel good about ourselves and the world around us. By building up our relationships, we can improve our own sense of wellbeing, which is truly the foundation of self-love. When you feel good about your relationships, you are significantly more likely to feel good about yourself.

Competence & Confidence

Self-love is also strengthened by feeling competent. This is accomplished by experiencing success. When you go out into the community to volunteer, you are giving yourself a chance to be successful and see how you can make a difference in the community around you. Seeing success through your own efforts validates your ability to make a difference, therefore making you more confident and happier. Additionally, going out into your community for volunteer work provides a chance for you to develop skills that otherwise wouldn’t have been developed. Discovering new skills and developing them can build your confidence tremendously.

So, you may be wondering why all this matters to your company. It is simple, really. Studies have shown that employees who volunteer are happier and 13% more productive. In this day and age, where employee engagement has been at a low, this fact could not only save jobs, but also make companies much more successful and build a better brand and culture.

How can companies increase employee happiness and improve company success?

1.     Recognize the need for change.

The only place to start fixing an issue is recognizing what that issue is. When employers can look at numbers and see a decrease in employee engagement, that is when they are able to look for ways to fix that employee engagement. Identifying these issues can be done through consistent employee satisfaction surveys and open channels for individuals to share feedback with managers and employee resource groups (ERGs).

2.     Acknowledge the need for commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Each community has a responsibility to improving the community around them. Without this, people become disengaged with their community and the system is dismantled. When companies realize that they have a responsibility to bettering the community around them, they can improve their company by engaging with their community. A study from Cone Communications revealed that 70%  of people consider a company’s social & environmental commitments before deciding where to work.

3.     Research companies with volunteer programs already in place and compare success rates.

By looking to others, you can decide the best route to take when empowering employees to volunteer. This is especially helpful when looking at the amount of volunteer work you want to encourage your employees to do, and the frequency of volunteer work.

4.     Implement the plan.

This is the time to explain the program you have developed to your employees. You should elaborate on the benefits and provide them with resources, like Swoovy’s employee volunteer platform, to help them easily seek out volunteer opportunities. Explain to them the benefits of being a part of corporate social responsibility events and how engagement in this has tremendous potential to increase the company’s worth and generate more revenue.

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5.     Track and analyze volunteerism.

Tracking volunteerism is critical for employers to see whether volunteering has boosted employee engagement and the overall success of the company. When the year reaches its end, employers can look at the dashboard of volunteer hours and look at how their company has improved by adding volunteerism expectations.

6.     Adjust volunteer and impact goals.

Once you have done an analysis of how volunteerism has had an impact for your company, you are able to adjust goals for volunteerism for the next year. This is when you can decide if the number of hours committed to corporate social responsibility can be increased. This is also a great opportunity to introduce company-wide or department-wide volunteer opportunities and incentives to get involved. By introducing events for teams to participate in together, you are not only partaking in corporate social responsibility events, but you are also providing team building opportunities which can increase productivity and engagement within the company.

So, what’s next?

Employee engagement is at an all-time low and we have proven that boosting the happiness and overall wellbeing of your employees can increase their engagement and productivity, all the while making the company more successful. The best way to help employees love themselves more, is to provide a volunteerism program for your employees. By providing a program that makes finding, attending, and tracking volunteer events easy for your employees, they are more likely to engage in corporate social responsibility and therefore, more likely to feel happier and be more engaged in the workplace.

Learn more about Swoovy’s turn-key employee volunteer platform.