There is no better motivation for employees than receiving a genuine and heartfelt appreciation from those they work for. And also giving them an opportunity to give back to the community allows them to experience a greater sense of worth as a person too. These apply pretty well in companies in the customer service industry. Customer service agents who feel valued also emit the same attitude when they serve your customers.
Your employees work so hard all year-long to deliver excellence in their jobs and when they see that companies recognize their hard work and reward it generously, expect a double portion of fruitfulness in terms of service delivery.
So to celebrate Labor Day in the US today, we’ve rounded up some examples of companies who gave back to their employees and fostered a culture of giving, which inspired not only their workers but also other people who were touched by their graciousness:
1. Wilton Connor Packaging Inc. does its employees’ laundry
Wilton Connor, CEO and founder of North Carolina-based Wilton Connor Packaging Inc., started a laundry service in his company after hearing of a female employee’s predicament of having to travel far to the office and then come home to her two toddlers and do a pile of laundry for her family. Because he wanted to at least alleviate her of some of her many loads, he hired someone to do the cleaning and began this cleaning program. His idea clicked and today his company owns and runs three washers/dryers and employed two more to do the laundry for its employees.
But it doesn’t end there. Their company also took care of this lady’s transportation concern by providing carpool services. It turns out that there are other employees who were also interested in carpooling so they contacted the city of Charlotte and they provided the company with two vans and recruited drivers who are also among the people who need the service. And this was no ordinary carpool as this was a door-to-door transport service which also stops at daycare centers to drop/pick up the employees’ kids.
Because they see their employees’ needs, they want to help meet them. They also offered English classes for their diverse workforce, provided a child-care subsidy, and handyman services.
This gesture showed how mindful they are of their employees’ personal lives that they think about how to make it easier for them so that they will less stressed and be more productive at work. And Wilton Connor Packaging has seen great gains in business just because they cared for their workers.
2. The DELSTAR Group trains employees to open their own businesses
DELSTAR enriches its employees by allowing them to undergo enhanced training, especially that a huge percentage of its workforce comes from the disadvantaged and minority classes. These trainings are beyond technical enhancement skills as they also provide life and job skills developments like supervisory, team building and small business entrepreneurial training programs among others, which will help their workers, improve in their lives.
Because they provided these opportunities to their employees, many were promoted in their careers from having no work experience at all to becoming managers and the like, while others were able to open their own businesses. DELSTAR was awarded “Best of America” National Grand Prize for having a winning business formula. According to Pam Del Duca, founder and CEO of DELSTAR, she will use the cash prize of $25,000 to finance education scholarships, seed money for employees who want to start a business and for emergency funds.
They truly understood that when you invest in your employees, it will directly contribute to their company’s overall success. But more than the personal gain, they delight in seeing their workers’ grow to their optimum level.
3. Trip Advisor gives free lunches so employees can give back to charity
Trip Advisor cultivates generosity among its staff by providing them an opportunity to give back to the community in easier ways. Like giving them free lunches three times a week—in return, Trip Advisor employees donate their lunch money to their chosen charities. They also let their staff participate in community services like painting local schools that encourage them to mingle with the people in their community. Since Trip Advisor also has its own charitable foundation that offers grants, they contribute 2% of the foundation’s profit and place it in their employees’ endeavors and supported charities.
Trip Advisor does not impose it upon their employees, but because they have created ways for them to give back in easier ways, it established an attitude of giving among Trip Advisor staff.
4. AOL lets employees take days off to volunteer
AOL has developed their volunteer program where employees are given liberty to take their days off and spend time volunteering in their community. AOL lets their staff join in on various giving-back efforts by the company to encourage volunteerism spirit among their workers. This eventually led to AOL’s Monster Help Day where 3,000 AOL staff members donated their time to volunteer in different charities across the world. Seeing the need of their community, AOL employees extended their hands to help when Hurricane Sandy hit, as well as coordinated lab donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Ronald McDonald House of NY.
Providing their employees options to more meaningfully use their days-off shows the kind of heart of generosity their company has which eventually becomes the character of every AOL employee.
5. Google Inc. knows how to pamper its employees
For Google, they understand that providing intrinsic (more on Google’s work structure and ethics) and extrinsic rewards benefits their employees which inspire them to enjoy their work and be more productive. Google has created their headquarters to be more fun to work in. They make their lives easier by providing facilities for their employees to use like first-class dining offers, laundry rooms and dry cleaning, massage rooms, haircuts, car wash, free transportation among others. They also give their employees benefits like free health and dental benefits, tuition reimbursements, flex spending, insurance, and vacation packages.
Google also understands their employees’ family life so they give their female employees maternity benefits up to 18 weeks off at approximately 100% pay—even offering free “take-out” benefits for the new parents. They also help parents raise their children through their back-up child care program.
They also encourage their staff to give through their Gift Matching Program where Google Inc. matches eligible employees’ $3000/year contribution to non-profit organizations. Because employees have received much, they pay it forward.
We all know how successful Google has become, and this has much to do with how they have treated their employees.
Companies who are generous to their employees and let them give back to others can expect their own to take care of their business and make it flourish. May you be inspired by these companies and encourage you to give back to your employees and show them your appreciation.
