Strengthening Companies' Capacity to Support Quality Employee Engagement Programs
By Alyson Genovese
“Change is hard.”
“How do I scale global?”
“Our employees expect more.”
“We expect too much customization from our vendors.”
“Do we have to go this alone?”
These are some of the snippets of conversation overheard on day one of the 14th Annual Charities@Work Summit on Employee Engagement and Corporate Citizenship, presented by Wells Fargo, taking place March 23-25, 2015.
On this cold early Spring day in New York, I have to admit I was a bit suspect of the conference. Charities@Work is a consortium of four national charity federations – Community Health Charities, Global Impact, America’s Charities and EarthShare. Why would these nonprofits bring corporate citizenship leaders together from across the country if not to sell them on the unique value that these organizations can provide? Is this going to be three days on how they alone can serve as experts on corporate philanthropy and employee volunteerism?
Delightedly, no.
The Charities@Work Summit - focusing on how to strengthen the capacity of companies to encourage and support high quality employee engagement programs – leaves its own experts on the sidelines, allowing corporations the opportunity to hear from each other. The Summit is fairly small in size with approximately 200 attendees, allowing for more intimate conversations and real interaction among participants.
Virtual collaboration is excellent, but thanks to Charities@Work the conversations that come from sharing the same meeting room is apparent. Perhaps the best quote from today is “We are asking our vendors to create customized and unique technology to meet our unique and special needs. We are special, but our challenges are not unique. We don’t need to figure them out on our own, which is refreshing.”
Join the Discussion Today Via Livestream:
Day two of the Charities@Work Summit, taking place today from 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM, is all about using Digital to create inclusion as well as Engaging Millennials. I encourage you to join the conversation on Twitter by following the hash tag #CWSummit15 and watch the Livestream today and tomorrow at bit.ly/CW15livestream.
You can learn more about this annual summit at www.charitiesatwork.org.
