As a CEO, I want my legacy in business to be defined by more than just the bottom line.
I believe it’s my responsibility to not only spur my company to greater success but also enhance the role corporate social responsibility initiatives play within it.
One of my guiding principles is that a successful company should be able to simultaneously perform well in business and contribute to its community.
I, myself, am a millennial, and my company’s work with the Clinton Global Initiative and other nonprofits informs that opinion. I don’t want my co-workers or me to just punch a clock — we want to leave our stamp on the world.
That’s the same attitude many of my peers hold — especially the ones who came of age right around the time of the Great Recession. According to research done by the Forbes Funds, 55% of millennials say they’re more convinced to take a job if the company takes part in a cause.
To this end, more and more companies are realizing just how beneficial a strong CSR initiative can be. It’s now imperative for them to use their work in the community to attract the best hires Generation Y has to offer.
Why CSR Puts The Shine On Your Company
Skilled millennial employees are highly sought after and highly discerning. They want to join a company whose culture fits their own sensibilities rather than work somewhere that forces them to conform. CSR is the perfect instrument with which to highlight your company’s cultural strengths.
Furthermore, these strategies can be a tool to not only attract senior millennials but also lower employee turnover. Your philanthropic approach should be there to showcase your vision and passion for the future and push younger generations to greater heights. By giving employees something bigger than themselves to shoot for, you give them a reason to see a long-term future with your company.
But just having a CSR policy might not be enough to attract the right people. You need to make sure you’re putting it out into the world and that those you want to see it have it right in front of them.
Let Your Good Deeds Go Noticed
Most millennials have a cause of choice. Research done by the Millennial Impact Report notes that 46% of them volunteered for an organization they cared about within a month of the study. Those are the hires executives should key in on. Here are three ways CSR strategies can be used to help you attract the best mature millennials to your company:
1. Settle upon shared ground. Simply having a CSR initiative is already a step in the right direction. But there are ways you can push your attractiveness to older portions of that demographic even higher.
Make sure you’re focusing — at least in part — on the values and goals you share with them. Find commonalities in your company’s vision with the types of goals mature members of that audience want to achieve. Then, highlight how those goals can be accomplished.
2. Make it a grassroots movement. To truly attract (and keep) senior millennials, CSR can’t just be lip service — it needs to be present and active in every level of the company. Encourage your senior employees to volunteer, either through company events or on their own time. Create incentives or offer some time off for those who want to volunteer during the workweek.
At our company, we participated in the Clinton Global Initiative’s Day of Action because it was an effort everyone in every department could get behind. Find your own cause that you’re passionate about, and share it with your employees. Not only will you be spreading good into the world, but volunteer work can also actually help your executives become better leaders.
3. Talk yourself up. While charitable work might be its own reward, good press benefits your business. Use publicity wherever possible to get the word out about what your organization does for the community; in many cases, press can be used as a call to action.
Media attention about your CSR informs the wider world about important issues in the community, and it can attract a mature Millennial audience that might not have been aware of your company or the great work it does. We did this at our company just this year with the United Nations and our “Every Woman Every Child” partnership, which was designed to promote women’s and children’s health in China.
We had a press conference on our work early last year, which included a call to action for young people. The goal was to show that the people who joined our workforce were truly making a difference in the world.
CSR is more than just altruism on a grand scale. It attracts a strong workforce that, in turn, bolsters your initiatives and brings in new employees. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, so keep your good efforts strong (and public), and watch your workforce blossom along with it.
Kevin Xu is the CEO of MEBO International, a California- and Beijing-based intellectual property management company.
This article was taken from here.