'We've witnessed first-hand the impact on our work culture'

There’s one way to improve workplace culture, employee engagement and ROI which many employers don’t consider – workplace giving.

Indeed, Workplace Giving Australia (WGA) has released findings into the benefits of employee giving programs this week, highlighting the benefits to the community, staff and business.

The study - based on research among JB Hi-Fi staff and additional analysis - discovered the positive impacts of workplace giving are evident as:

• 91% of staff felt proud to be a JB Hi-Fi employee
• 76% thought that workplace giving made JB Hi-Fi a better company to work for
• 65% of workplace giving employees felt more actively engaged in their work

Richard Murray, Group CEO, JB Hi-Fi, told HRD that the company recognises that their team want to contribute in meaningful ways – whether in the workplace, or by impacting their community at large.

He added that workplace giving programs allow employees to give back in a way that increases their engagement and pride to work for an organisation that recognises its responsibility to support communities in need.

“Since launching our Helping Hands workplace giving program in 2008, we can make a clear link to the 91% of our team that say they are proud to work for JB Hi-Fi,” he said.

JB Hi-FI chose to partner with Workplace Giving Australia to develop a custom giving initiative that would fit with their company culture and reflect their values.

The result - Helping Hands - makes it easy for all the JB Hi-Fi team to donate to their charity partners through payroll deductions, added Murray.

“We’re also proud to match these contributions dollar-for-dollar, effectively doubling the financial support for charities and the community,” he said.

“It’s been a tremendous success in engaging the majority of our team, with 80% of our over 7,500 strong national workforce donating weekly.”

So why should employers consider workplace giving? Murray said that workplace giving programs deliver a clear return on investment, which makes these programs simply good business sense for any company that wants to live their values, impact the community and engage their employees.

“The numbers speak for themselves in highlighting how we’ve saved our business $8 million per annum due to reduced costs associated with staff recruitment and training whilst raising more than $15 million for our charity partners,” he said.

“We’ve also witnessed first-hand the impact on our work culture, with increased team engagement, pride and morale.

“All of these factors make me a vocal supporter of workplace giving and I encourage other business leaders to support this most effective, efficient and ethical form of giving for working Australians.”