Integrating CSR into New Hire Recruitment and Onboarding

We’ve all heard the statistics detailing the idea that millennials are demanding socially responsible workplaces. The fact that this generation, one that now makes up the majority of our current workforce, has made it known that socially responsible behavior is an expectation, means that companies cannot afford to make the simple mistake of not sharing their CSR programs with new employees.

CSR as a Recruitment Tool

Using CSR as a tool for recruitment and onboarding, and as a means to share your culture, is an easy way to communicate with potential and new employees. Using your CSR to recruit new employees is a great way to signal to potential employees that your company is ethical, caring, and has a strong culture. Potential employees can find out about your CSR by seeing your programs listed on your website, career page, and an active program being shared on your social media pages.

Creating a recruiting event centered around an act of good is a great way to share an active experience, explain your CSR and catch the attention of your potential employees.

CSR, Recruitment and Onboarding

Once employees are hired, there’s an expectation for them to be exposed to, and understand, CSR as quickly as possible. Bringing CSR into your recruitment and onboarding process can integrate new employees into your culture faster, reassure new employees that they’ve picked a company that does “walk the talk”, and begin educating new employees about how they can be involved in CSR from day one. It’s important to talk about your CSR programs early and often, letting new employees know how they can get involved and how your company will support their personal efforts as well.

During the recruitment and onboarding process, after speaking about your CSR program, introduce employees to the CSR technology your company uses. Be sure to have them create a login right then and there, and walk the group through how they can use the technology to find volunteer opportunities and make donations.

To encourage early adoption of that technology, we recommend allocating a Cause Card to each employee, given in their first week. Not only will the Cause Card encourage new employees to go back into the CSR technology and become familiar with it, but it will also let new employees experience the company’s support of their own giving efforts.

Volunteer Early

In order to further show new employees what they can expect at their new company, it is a great idea to set up a volunteering event for your new hire class in their first week. One that reflects the overarching CSR mission, familiarizes new employees with your nonprofit partners and allows that group to bond and form connections outside of their immediate teams. This can be a time-consuming effort, and might not make sense for smaller companies, but it will set up new employees to become more actively engaged in your CSR and feel more connected to your company, overall.

Finally, it is a great idea to challenge your employees to plan their own volunteer event! This will help the new group solidify connections within the company, jump into your CSR program, and understand other aspects of your CSR technology. It will also allow them to understand a deeper use of your CSR technology platform and how to execute a volunteer event as an individual, in the future.