Team4Tech’s mission is to advance 21st century education in low-resource contexts by connecting technology industry professionals and solutions with high impact NGO projects. We act as agents for change by matching technology industry volunteers, solutions and resources with accredited non-profit projects that aim to make a difference in the quality of education around the globe. We firmly believe that we can improve education outcomes for learners around the world, and at the same time provide a life-changing experience for volunteers and a solid ROI for corporations. Check out these Top Ten reasons your company should have a Team4Tech or other international skills-based volunteering program.
The Top Ten reasons your company needs a program like Team4Tech.
International Skills-Based Volunteering Programs can:
10. Encourage Millennials to work for your company: They care about giving back, and you should too.
- 53% of professionals and 72% of students say they want to make a social impact.
- 80 million Millennials live in the U.S. today and by 2020, they will make up 50% of the workforce.
- Millennials rate a company’s cause work as the #3 factor when applying for a job.
9. Help your company retain top talent: saving costs in time and money to replace staff.
- 30% of companies have lost 15% or more of their Millennial employees in the past year. 60% of Millennials leave their company in less than 3 years.
- 87% of companies reported it costs between $15,000 and $25,000 to replace each millennial employee they lose. 56% of employers said it takes 3 to 7 weeks to hire a fully productive millennial in a new role.
- The main indicator of whether Millennial workers stay at a company: The majority say – it’s whether there is a “good cultural fit.”
8. Improve your employee satisfaction – (By the way, Millennials aren’t the only ones who care).
- 91% of Gen X women and 76 percent of Gen X men say that it is important to contribute their communities or the world through their work.
- Employees who say they have the opportunity to make a direct social and environmental impact through their job report higher satisfaction levels than those who don’t by a 2:1 ratio.
- Companies with strong sustainability programs compared to companies with poor programs have 55% better morale and 38% better employee loyalty.
7. Address gender balance and expand opportunities to advance women tech leaders.
- 88 percent of Gen Y women, 91 percent of Gen X women and 90 percent of female Baby Boomers feel it is important to contribute to their community or the wider world through work.
- 56% of women who enter the field of technology leave for other careers. Yet, companies with more women in leadership out-perform those with fewer women ( ROI is 34% higher for tech companies with more women in management) and skills-based volunteering programs are attractive to women.
- “Volunteer assignments can do more than inject excitement into a humdrum job; they can ignite a career. “It’s also high-profile, with blogs and videos of participants’ experiences distributed throughout the company and on the internet.”
6. Achieve gains in productivity and employee engagement.
- Corporate volunteering positively impacts the bottom line in terms of keeping ambitious and quality employees, and companies find with volunteering that they don’t lose productivity, they gain it.
- Two out of three employees feel more engaged at work because of their employer’s corporate social responsibility program.
- Companies with strong sustainability programs compared to companies with poor programs have 43% more efficient businesses processes.
5. Fuel your brand through CSR and PR rewards and recognition.
- Companies with strong sustainability programs compared to companies with poor programs have 43% stronger public image.
- CSR programs that engage employees increase visibility and brand recognition; enhance positive perceptions of companies; empower employees as brand ambassadors; and deliver effective public press mentions, at minimal incremental marketing costs.
4. Help employees engage in social good – CSR is not enough; employees want to be part of the solution.
- Companies are realizing that “Just working for one of the “good guys” is no longer enough; employees want to be good guys, too.”
- 97% of Millennials prefer to contribute their skills.
3. Provide professional development and the skills your employees need to help your company compete.
- We live in a “VUCA” world, one that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Leaders need 21st Century skills to be effective at managing change, building consensus, inspiring others, and leading across generations and cultures.
- Organizations are concerned about their leadership bench strength: 85% agree that there is an urgent need to accelerate the development of their leaders and over a quarter report that 20 percent or more of their senior leaders will be eligible to retire within the next five years.
- “Global pro bono, or international corporate volunteerism, is leadership bootcamp that builds capacity in a fast, efficient, and economical way. It’s a workout that exercises all kinds of leadership muscle, and builds the types of teams and people that leading multi-national corporations have identified as top talent requirements, often at a fraction of the cost of other approaches.”
2. Give leaders the needed global mindset, especially important with diverse and remote workforces and the growing importance of emerging markets.
- International corporate volunteering programs have been found to be more effective in leadership development than elite, classroom-based models.
- The need for global awareness for corporate leaderships is growing, yet only a third of leaders report being effective in leading across countries and cultures.
- International experiential corporate volunteering programs promote this global leadership mindset.
1. Enable your company to make a big difference, in a short amount of time.
- Traditional volunteer activities are valued at around $20/hour while skill-based pro bono services are valued at around $120/hour. “Pro bono service is deep, strategic, and infrastructural with a measureable impact on the sustainability of the nonprofit sector.”
- “Such initiatives are a triple win, giving employees a chance to develop new skills, the company an opportunity to scope out new business in emerging markets, and the local organization the benefits of corporate expertise and relationships.”
Are there other compelling reasons for international skills-based volunteering that we have not included in our list? Please comment and share your programs in the comments below. Thanks!
Sources for quoted stats above: “2012 NetImpact Talent Report“ “Inspiring the Next Generation Workforce: The 2014 Millennial Impact Report,” sponsored by the CASE Foundation and Research by Achieve “The Cost of Millennial Retention Study,” 2013 “Skills-Based Volunteering: The New Executive Training Ground,” SSIR, 2013 “Leadership Development Around The World Remains Stalled,” Forbes, 2014 “Global Leadership Forecast 2014 | 2015, Ready-Now Leaders,” DDI “Ready-Now Leaders: Meeting Tomorrow’s Business Challenges: Global Leadership Forecast 2014 | 2015” Report PDF from DDI “The Top 10 Trends in CSR for 2012” Forbes, 2012 “Volunteer to Juice Your Career,” Forbes, 2012 “Women in IT: The Stats,” NCWIT, 2010 The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Fact Sheet “Strengthen Your Workforce Through Volunteer Programs,” Harvard Business Review, 2012 “Why everyone wants to work for the ‘good guys’,”CNN, 2012 “Demonstrating the Business Value of Pro Bono Service,” Taproot Foundation, 2012 “How to Accelerate Leadership Development,” Human Capital Institute, 2014 “Engaging Millennial Employees | Recruit and Retain Top Talent with Cause,” Network for Good, 2014 “A Pro Bono Week Reaffirmation,” The Huffington Post, 2014 “From Service Learning to Learning Service,” SSIR, 2014 2012 Global Workforce Study, Towers Watson, 2012