BEYOND PAINTING CLASSROOMS...8 Some examples of going beyond painting classrooms in Transnet’s EVP...
Transcript of BEYOND PAINTING CLASSROOMS...8 Some examples of going beyond painting classrooms in Transnet’s EVP...
BEYOND PAINTING CLASSROOMS Aligning Employee Volunteering with Core Business
Presentation by Susie Mabie: Senior Manager, Transnet Foundation
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EVP GALLERY
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INTRODUCTION
If ORANGE is the new BLACK, then VOLUNTEERING
is the new ORANGE
• The 21st Century has seen the dawn of ordinary people doing good
out of choice and voluntarily
• Popular social trend RAK, Random Act of Kindness, sees young
people making volunteering fashionable
Different forms of volunteering:
• Green volunteering
• Tourism volunteering
• Employee volunteering
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TRANSNET AT GLANCE
Transnet is:
• A State Owned Company (SOC)
• Has five Operating Divisions (or ODs): Transnet Freight Rail, Transnet
Engineering, Transnet Pipelines, Transnet Port terminals and Transnet
National Port Authority
• Our core business is freight and transport logistics
• Transnet Foundation is mandated with the social responsibility output of
Transnet
• The Foundation has five focus areas: health, education, sport, socio-
economic infrastructure development and employee volunteer programme
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TRANSNET VOLUNTEERS FOR VILLAGES
Volunteering in Transnet is regulated by the Employee Volunteer Programme
(EVP) business model called Volunteers for Villages.
EVP officially started in 2012 in Transnet.
The Volunteers for Villages model is premised on the African proverb that it takes
a “village to raise a child”; the Transnet EVP interrogates this proverb by asking
but who raises the village?
In response, our employee volunteering seeks to match the diverse skills of our
employees with the diverse needs of a community.
The point of departure for the establishment of a Transnet Village is a socio-
economic baseline study of the Village. This study becomes the basis for
volunteering initiatives and the measurement for success at the end of a three
year period.
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Volunteering is target driven; we identify a Village which is a specific
community and implement the Volunteers for Villages in such a
Transnet Village.
This mitigates against risks and ensures that impact is measurable because
the site of volunteering is controlled.
Villages are communities that are impacted on by the business of Transnet.
TRANSNET VOLUNTEERS FOR VILLAGES
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GOING BEYOND PAINTING CLASSROOMS
Does the theme of our workshop, Beyond Painting Classrooms suggest
that painting classrooms has no strategic value in employee volunteering?
The value of changing a dull, tired space into a warm, vibrant space is
indescribable.
This is what underpins a fresh coat of paint on a classroom wall.
However, if this, metaphorically, is the full extent of our reach, then we have
short-changed the power of employee volunteering.
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Some examples of going beyond painting classrooms in
Transnet’s EVP are:
• Installing a Clearvu Fence around the perimeter of Mfesane Secondary School in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth
• Building a playground with a mini road and a jungle gym at Engelbrecht Primary School in Elands Bay, West Coast
• Building 67 safe sanitation (toilet blocks) at 67 creches in Orange farm, Johannesburg
• Planting 300 indigenous trees at 4 cemeteries in Saldanha Bay, West Coast
• Converting an abandoned Transnet property into a Youth Precinct (shelter for 20 homeless boys, resources centre and recreational park) in De Aar, Northern Cape
GOING BEYOND PAINTING CLASSROOMS
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TO BE A VOLUNTEER OR A CORPORATE VOLUNTEER?
Where does employee volunteering fit in this
dynamic new world of volunteering?
If employee volunteering wants to avoid being the new
orange, and like any seasonal vogue risk being
pushed out of favour or even existence when the new
black comes into favour, then the fundamental value of
employee volunteering must be aligned with the core
business principle of the company, namely good
governance. Ascribing to good governance thus
means seeking its mandate from the company.
21st Century Business
Good Governance
Process of Decision Making
Mandate
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TO BE A VOLUNTEER OR A CORPORATE VOLUNTEER?
Employee volunteering is neither rogue, nor
freelancing, nor charity.
If it gets its mandate from the company, then its
position is clear, it is social responsibility through
employee volunteering.
When a company realises the value of mandating its
employees to volunteer, then employee volunteering
and its far reaching benefits that go beyond painting
classrooms may be saved from being a flash in the pan
but a boardroom strategy for companies to invest in
communities.
Employee volunteering
EVP mandate
Company
Social responsibility through employee
volunteering
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(RE) ALIGNMENT
DRIVERS AND MEASUREMENTS OF BUSINESS VALUE
= ECONOMIC VALUE; ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE AND SOCIAL VALUE
Employees are the face or ambassadors of a company; so, when we use our own
employees to offset potential negative attitudes of external stakeholders, our EVP
programmes contribute towards our external stakeholder value proposition and
strengthen our relationship with such stakeholders and communities.
Outcome:
Improved external stakeholder relations
with a potential to create economic value
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(RE) ALIGNMENT
In work place environments where employees are increasingly considerate of the
social responsibility and sustainable footprint of their employee, it is prudent for
employers to create opportunities where their work force can be of benefit to vulnerable
communities. The EVP programmes create such an opportunities for employees,
thereby positioning the company as a socially responsible company to work for.
Outcome:
Improved internal stakeholder relations through
a happy and dedicated workforce
with a social conscience
that has the potential to create
social and environmental value
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(RE) ALIGNMENT
In order for employee volunteering to create value for its company,
its mandate must come from
an allegiance to the sponsor, the company.
The mandate of an EVP will seek to align
the value unleashed through employee volunteerism
with the core needs of the company.
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MAKING CENTS OF EMPLOYEE VOLUNTEERING
If it is voluntary, who says it needs a budget?
“Volunteering is only for the rich; people like me can’t afford to pay to work for others.”
Total Cost of Volunteering Global Volunteers
The service program fee covers your food, lodging, in-country transportation, a trained
team leader, emergency medical and evacuation insurance, 24-hour emergency phone
access, work projects supplies, orientation materials, reading lists and pre-departure
tips for responsible volunteering. (Excludes transport and living expenses)
COUNTRY 1 WEEK 2 WEEKS 3 WEEKS
China (Kunming) $2,695 $2,895
China (Xi'an) $2,495 $2,695 $2,895
Cook Islands $2,695 $2,895 $3,095
Costa Rica $2,395 $2,595
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AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR
EMPLOYEE VOLUNTEERING
An enabling environment will:
• Allow employees to volunteer during working hours;
• Ensure accountability to company policies and procedures;
• Ensure workman’s compensation cover when volunteering;
• Ensure control systems and measures are in place to govern the volunteering;
• Provide employees with project tools and protective clothing;
• Report quantitatively on impact, measurable outputs and sustainability of
interventions;
• Institutionalise volunteering in the company through governance
(framework in which volunteering takes place);
• Drive an internal campaign with line managers and an external campaign with
beneficiaries to communicate the benefits of employee volunteering.
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CONCLUSION
A study by Tshikululu Social Investments conducted among 41 senior business leaders
found that only 22% of respondents identified the following as key motivators of
corporate social responsibility programmes: “It gives us a competitive advantage” and
“It helps us to reduce business risks and / or other costs”.
Instead, value-driven factors were rated as the most important motivators.
Beyond Painting Classrooms workshop concept document from TSI 2013:12
Should employee volunteerism enter this space of creating value?
Could employee volunteerism create a competitive advantage for the company?
Would employee volunteerism benefit from offsetting business risks?
If EVP should, could and would, then the real winners will be the
Villages where employees volunteer.
It takes a Village to raise a child, but it takes more than corporate philanthropy to
up-skill, empower, capacitate and fast track the village into a competitive 21st Century.
THANK YOU