The trend is becoming increasingly popular in Germany. In America, corporate volunteering and social days have been an established part of the business world for decades, whereas in Germany they have only started to play an increasingly important role in recent years.
Alongside some 'old hands' who have long encouraged their employees' volunteer work, more and more smaller companies are now getting the idea to offer volunteer opportunities to their employees. Often, it is the employees themselves who desire more meaning in their work and call for social projects from their employers.
However, HR departments are noticing too that more and more applicants and employees are paying attention to the social responsibility of the employer and whether social projects outside the core business are promoted and supported.
The days when purely financial donations from a company to a charitable organization were considered sufficient are long gone for the reasons mentioned above. Employees simply want more: they want to have the opportunity to volunteer with their employer and colleagues - preferably as part of all-year corporate volunteering projects and social days!
We have already provided an introduction to the topic of corporate volunteering in this article.
Let's start with a definition of a Social Day: A Social Day is usually a day on which companies and their employees get involved for the common good of society. On these days, employees do not work as usual at their workplace, instead they get involved in a social project for an association or non profit organization.
The activities are usually carried out with the employees of the social institutions and end with a get-together in a relaxed atmosphere. Organizing a Social Day is really not that difficult.
Here we give you valuable tips to make your social day a guaranteed success:
The time and effort required to organize a Social Day should not be underestimated. Therefore, we recommend starting the planning process early. On one hand, many non-profit organizations have a limited number of days available for Social Days and tend to get booked out quickly.
On the other hand, internal coordination rounds and processes are required, which often take several weeks. Additionally, the Social Day project should be promoted to the workforce in advance to ensure that as many employees as possible are informed and have the opportunity to participate.
Also make a key decision early on: consider bringing an experienced partner like lets on board to ensure your Social Day is a success for all involved. We're here to offer guidance—just send us a message!
At the beginning, it's important to decide on the framework for the Social Day. Should all employees be given the opportunity to participate, or only a select group from the workforce?
Should it perhaps only be individual departments or individual groups such as all managers and department heads? What is the minimum or maximum number of employees who should be able to take part? Will employees be given special leave for the day or should it take place in their free time? Do I want to offer one or more Social Days?
These are all important questions that need to be clarified BEFORE you start talking to potential associations and organizations. However, some parameters are ultimately set by the organizations themselves, as the majority can usually only arrange projects with smaller groups for resource reasons. This means that you may have to plan several Social Days in order to give more employees the opportunity to take part.
Social projects exist in many areas and categories. These include, for example, animal and environmental conservation, social injustice, poverty and hunger, minorities, refugees, children and youth work, education, and many others. Finding the right project for oneself and one's company is crucial here. It is important to be authentic and not pretend as a company.
The selected project should never be contradictory to the core business, as otherwise the company risks losing credibility with its customers, partners, and employees. For example, selling jackets made with real fur while simultaneously advocating for animal welfare is not very convincing.
Once the topic or category of the desired project has been found, the next step is to search for a specific association or organization that is dedicated to the subject. Our platform lets is the right point of contact for this, which also provides unlimited Social Days per year as a holistic solution. Schedule a first call.
On lets you can filter by location and category and suitable non profit organizations in the area will be displayed. You can use the contact button to write to them directly and make a request for a Social Day. Depending on the package you choose, lets will also take care of the entire organization for you.
Alternatively, you can choose associations or organizations with which the company already has a previous history, e.g. through past fundraising campaigns or sponsoring activities.
Another way could be to reach out via the employees. Many already have connections to associations and are involved in voluntary work. A survey of your own workforce could therefore also be beneficial.
Once all the previous points have been clarified and the project partner has been found, the next step is to find the right date. This should or must be planned in close coordination with the non profit. These often reserve specific days for social days with companies, e.g. every last Friday of the month, and create the resources to provide an employee who instructs and accompanies the company's participants throughout the day and informs them about the organization's work.
For this reason, the first desired date may not always be available, which is why a certain flexibility on the part of the company is a requirement.
You should also take a close look at the possible dates internally: Is it holiday time? When is the peak of vacation time when many employees are not available? Also, identifying busy phases within the company: scheduling during critical periods when employee absence could be detrimental should be avoided.
After a few rounds of coordination, however, a date is usually found that suits all sides and the detailed planning can begin.
For the day itself, there are also some logistical issues to be clarified in advance, such as travel, catering and other requirements from the organizations.
Travel:
Catering:
Further:
Once all of the above points have been clarified and decided, nothing stands in the way of communicating with the workforce and promoting the project. Our lets platform offers the perfect administration tool for this and the project can be set up quickly and easily by the admin and all information can be added.
Employees receive all the important information about the project here and can register with just one click. The administrator, in turn, can see who has already registered and thus keeps an overview. Participants can also be informed of last-minute changes to the project here. Employees can even see when the project is full and can add their names to the waiting list.
The time has come. The day of the Social Day has finally arrived and the employees are motivated to get to work. Now it's time to simply have fun and support the organization as best you can in all areas.
At least one person should be given the responsibility of capturing the day in photos and videos. This creates a nice memory for the employees that they can look back on with proud. The resulting photos can also be used to promote the next Social Days and inspire other employees to take part next time.
After the successful conclusion of the Social Day, it is advisable to hold a small feedback session to find out what the employees liked or what can be improved next time. The organization should also be asked for feedback.
And last but not least, the company should consider whether it would like to acknowledge its thanks to the organization with a donation. Organizing a Social Day also requires a great deal of administrative effort on the part of the organizations as well as the “release” of an employee who cannot carry out their usual activities on this day. And since most organizations and associations work on a donation basis, financial support is a nice token of gratitude.
The first Social Day has taken place, the employees are happy and motivated and the organization was also pleased with the help. These are the best circumstances for planning another Social Day. Nevertheless, as a company you should also ask yourself whether you should perhaps encourage your employees to get involved more regularly.
Many non-profit organizations often carry out Social Days with immense effort, as each participant has to be trained anew on the Social Day. This is usually more work for the organizations than doing it themselves. Nevertheless, many are prepared to plan Social Days with companies in the hope that one or two people will perhaps take a liking to volunteering and support the organization with regular commitment afterwards.
After all, regular commitment is what charitable organizations need most urgently.
And perhaps our platform lets also offers enough inspiration here, because it is full of great, exciting and inspiring projects that are just waiting for your help!
Simply schedule a first call. without obligation and get to know lets and its possibilities!
