Corporate Social Responsibility as a Tool for Employee Wellness
By: Carmen Yeung - First Year Representative
The pandemic has radically changed the way in which workplaces operate, along with the values that both employees and employers hold. Companies have become more “employee-centric”, recognizing that employee well-being must be a priority to achieve long-term sustainability. With such a strong responsibility to foster holistic wellness approaches for employee well-being, there’s often a missed opportunity for connecting philanthropy and employee wellness. By giving employees the opportunity to give back and engage in social issues, organizations see higher employee engagement and performance.
I chatted with Cindy Gee, the Executive Assistant to the CEO at Lindt Canada, who has been with the company for over 14 years, to hear about her perspective on the position of employee wellness that isn’t always considered: Corporate Social Responsibility.
Carmen: Hi Cindy, thank you for joining me today to talk about employee wellness and corporate social responsibility. I’d love to hear more about your position and experiences at Lindt.
Cindy: Thank you for the opportunity. As an Executive Assistant, I mostly work alone. My job is to assist the CEO, and it is not often that I get to work in a team environment. During the pandemic, I’ve started hosting virtual events as a way to connect and engage with my colleagues on a social and charitable level. I’m always wondering how other people are doing and with everything going on with mental health, it’s important to find ways to connect.
Carmen: What’s the importance of these events?
Cindy: For me, it’s really about engaging with people. With social events, it’s a fun aspect, a time away from work. With charity, it's about giving employees something more tangible and a sense of pride in the community by helping others. And when you’re giving back to a charity or connecting with people, you feel better. It ties into employee engagement, morale, camaraderie, teamwork and when you’re happy at work, you’re more productive. There’s that expression: You receive more when you give. People don’t realize that when you’re helping sort at the Daily Bread Food Bank for example, you’re building a positive team environment while making an impact in the community.
Carmen: How does Lindt support these volunteering opportunities?
Cindy: We have 2 paid charity days which we call the Lindt Spirit of Giving Days where employees can take paid time off to volunteer. They can be for their own charitable causes or events we organize internally. During the pandemic, it was hard to get groups out to volunteer but we managed to still help the community by inviting staff to donate things like deodorant sticks or underwear to, making lasagnas, sandwiches or muffins for local shelters as well as donating monetarily to the cause. I literally drove over 500 KM last year pickup donations from people’s houses.
Carmen: You mentioned the pandemic making it harder to engage employees. I’d love to hear more about that.
Cindy: As a planner, it has been hard to get people to come out and away from the screens. It’s just trying to find different ways to get people engaged. The workforce right now is going through burnout where people are working so much. They don’t want to spend an extra hour doing volunteer work or socializing, when they just want to turn off the computer and disengage. My job is to try to find ways to engage people. My first charity event planned for 2022 was scheduled in April--where employees could learn how to play sledge hockey, a non-able-bodied sport--only had like 4 people signed up. I’m trying different avenues and it is challenging to connect people in any way possible mainly due to workload. Each year it seems to be getting harder and harder.
Carmen: It sounds like your colleagues are facing ‘Zoom Fatigue’. That being said, do you think it’s still worthwhile to keep pushing for these activities and to engage employees? What is the benefit of that?
Cindy: Yes, we’re slowly getting people back to the office for it’s important to see people and connect. You collaborate better too. It’s just nice to see people and chat instead of one meeting after the next. “Water cooler chat” is needed to take a break and to catch up informally.. We’re going to continue doing events and meetings in person. It’s about intentional and genuine connections. I literally walk around both floors every day to say hello to those in the office. For people who I haven’t seen in a while, I would just video call them. Those touchpoints I think are very important.
Carmen: When I was doing research for this blog, I found out that younger employees and people just coming into the workforce have different values than older generations. They value things like flexibility, work-life balance, and growth opportunities. But an emerging trend is seeking a company with a healthy organizational culture and an active stance on social issues. Do you see a personal change in how younger employees are motivated? Do these volunteer programs have a bigger impact on them?
Cindy: It’s kind of hard to say. We have millennial employees but surprisingly, most of them are quite introverted. Right now, I think we’re just so busy with work and people are still trying to navigate work-life balance. The younger folks are just so busy with work right now, they’re not really thinking of volunteering. Maybe when we have them back in the office regularly, they will feel more comfortable participating. I know that millennials tend to be more philanthropic and passionate about social causes so this has been interesting to see the lack of response right now.
Carmen: It’s exciting to see how these initiatives will reach those younger employees when they adjust to that work-life balance.
Cindy: Many are still new and they haven’t acclimated themselves into the culture yet because they’ve just been joining meetings virtually. They haven’t been able to get to know their colleagues. Once they come into the office, I’m sure there will be more interest.
Carmen: What would be your advice for people entering the workforce and considering what organization to work for? Should employee wellness or corporate social responsibility be our priority?
Cindy: The world is your oyster as they say. Don’t take a job just for the money. Find a job you love and you won’t work a day in your life. That’s the best advice I can give you!
Carmen: Lindt is very lucky to have someone like you in this position. You have a clear passion for creating these events and connecting people through them.
Cindy: Aww that is very sweet of you to say (pun intended). If I can offer these small, little events just to make someone happy, I‘m happy too. It’s the little things that count and can make a huge difference. Just be kind to others. My background is in charity so I’m fortunate that Lindt allows me to share my abilities via social and charitable events in the company.
Carmen: Thank you so much for chatting with me, Cindy!
*Opinions from this interview was solely from the individual and not on behalf of the company*