Employee Engagement and CSR: TRANSACTIONAL, RELATIONAL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACHES
Employee Engagement and CSR:
TRANSACTIONAL, RELATIONAL, AND
DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACHES
Philip Mirvis
This article looks at the relevance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for engaging employees, including its impact on their motivation, identity, and sense of meaning and purpose. It explores three different ways that companies engage their employees through CSR: a transactional approach, where programs are undertaken to meet the needs of employees who want to take part in the CSR efforts of a company; a relational approach, based on a psychological contract that emphasizes social responsibility; and a developmental approach, which aims to activate social responsibility in a company and to develop its employees to be responsible corporate citizens. (Keywords: Employees, Human resources management, Corporate social responsibility)
IBM has engaged its employees and retirees through its On Demand Community, which in over one hundred and twenty countries matches them to service opportunities of interest. CEO Sam Palmisano explains the company’s skill-based volunteer program thusly: “No company can mandate volunteerism. The decision and selfsacrifice comes from within the individual. What we can do is encourage and support this distinctive aspect of our culture by providing education, technology, funding, and recognition to tens of thousands of IBM colleagues who enrich their communities with their expertise and caring.”
To integrate CSR into Salesforce.com, the company developed a “1-1-1” model—
1% of the founding stock went to the corporate foundation to help communities in need; employees are paid to donate 1% of their time to activities that fit with the philanthropic priorities of the company; and 1% of customer subscriptions are donated to nonprofits to increase their operating effectiveness and focus more resources on their core mission. According to Suzanne DiBianca, head of the Salesforce.com
Foundation, “Volunteerism is a
TRANSACTIONAL, RELATIONAL, AND
DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACHES
Philip Mirvis
This article looks at the relevance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for engaging employees, including its impact on their motivation, identity, and sense of meaning and purpose. It explores three different ways that companies engage their employees through CSR: a transactional approach, where programs are undertaken to meet the needs of employees who want to take part in the CSR efforts of a company; a relational approach, based on a psychological contract that emphasizes social responsibility; and a developmental approach, which aims to activate social responsibility in a company and to develop its employees to be responsible corporate citizens. (Keywords: Employees, Human resources management, Corporate social responsibility)
IBM has engaged its employees and retirees through its On Demand Community, which in over one hundred and twenty countries matches them to service opportunities of interest. CEO Sam Palmisano explains the company’s skill-based volunteer program thusly: “No company can mandate volunteerism. The decision and selfsacrifice comes from within the individual. What we can do is encourage and support this distinctive aspect of our culture by providing education, technology, funding, and recognition to tens of thousands of IBM colleagues who enrich their communities with their expertise and caring.”
To integrate CSR into Salesforce.com, the company developed a “1-1-1” model—
1% of the founding stock went to the corporate foundation to help communities in need; employees are paid to donate 1% of their time to activities that fit with the philanthropic priorities of the company; and 1% of customer subscriptions are donated to nonprofits to increase their operating effectiveness and focus more resources on their core mission. According to Suzanne DiBianca, head of the Salesforce.com
Foundation, “Volunteerism is a