How to Reward Employees with CSR Actions that Matter: Introducing Sociabble Trees

We’re living in a new era. An era when employees are not motivated simply by personal advancement and by raises. Increasingly, employees are searching for meaning in their work. This means that they want to work for a company that shares their values and sense of corporate responsibility, but also that they want to feel like they’re directly involved. They want to feel like they’re making a difference in the world, improving our environment and society, and not simply hitting sales numbers or attracting clients.

So how to reward employees, then? How can a company make them part of a meaningful CSR program? There are many ways to accomplish this, and many initiatives out there. Here at Sociabble, we’re especially proud of our Sociabble Trees program. It’s designed to promote employee engagement and awareness by rewarding them in a way that’s meaningful, durable, and unique.

A CSR Program that Offers Meaningful Employee Rewards

The concept behind Sociabble Trees is simple. It’s a way of offering employee rewards in the form of trees planted in that employee’s name, in a host of forests around the world. What makes this kind of employee rewards program different is that is entails actually doing something meaningful to help the planet, rather than providing the employee with a less meaningful or helpful material gift. The benefits of planting trees are varied and easy to explain. They include:

Carbon Offset

Trees convert CO2 to oxygen, reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. They play a major role in canceling out industrial carbon emissions, which can be a motivating factor for employee involvement, and a meaningful way to help the planet overall.

Biodiversity

Planting different kinds of trees can increase biodiversity and rewild areas that have previously been converted to farmland, both in terms of plants and the animals that rely on them. The initiatives aren’t simply about planting trees, but replacing forests and the many animals that call them home.

Reduce Erosion and Improve Water Quality

Tree roots help keep soil in place, reducing erosion, and also help stop run-off and soil from going into the water table, which in turn keeps drinking water cleaner. The water table is improved drastically by healthy forests.

Job Creation for Local Inhabitants

The planting of trees in our select forests also helps create employment opportunities in those regions. Current forest options include European, South American, and African forests, with the planting being conducted by on-the-ground teams.

How to Reward Employees with Sociabble Trees

Sociabble Trees is a fully-integrated part of the Sociabble employee communication platform. Given that gamification is already part of the system—employees can be rewarded for attending trainings, sharing posts, creating content, etc.—Sociabble Trees fits seamlessly into the existing rubric.

Employees are rewarded one symbolic tree badge for every tree that’s planted in their name. This can be a reward similar to the ones described above, or something as simple as marking a 1-year anniversary at the company or as a holiday bonus. In turn, companies that participate in the Sociabble Trees program can keep track of their own corporate forest, decide where and what type of trees will be planted, and even see their carbon off-set.

This is ultimately why the program is so successful—it not only gives positive reinforcement to employees who engage and exhibit helpful behaviors, it also yields a positive result, something employees can be proud of and find meaning in.

Examples of Employee Rewards with Sociabble Trees

Sociabble Trees ensures that you can engage your employees year-round. Commitment to sustainability isn’t a one-time thing. Which begs the question, what kid of actions or services merit the reward of trees planted in the employee’s name? Here are a few examples for how to reward employees:

• You’d like to thank all your employees for using the platform, attribute trees to all users
• During a company training, give trees to all participants
• Launching a new product, give trees to the members of the R&D team
• You want to boost mobile adoption of your platform, give trees to all “on the move” badge holders
• Your company has been mentioned in the press = trees to the communication team
• Company anniversary = trees to all employees
• Employee company anniversary = 1 tree per year’s seniority
• Reach a sales target/new deal signed = trees to the Sales team
• Content creation on the platform = trees to all “copywriters”

Why Linking Employee Engagement to CSR Initiatives Matters

There are a variety of ways to demonstrate the importance of CSR initiatives and the effects they have on employee engagement. But sometimes the numbers speak for themselves.

• • Here are just a few stats that show the positive benefits CSR programs can bring. For example:
  • More than half of all millennials say they would take a pay cut to find work that matches their values
  • Over 50% of millennials would defend a purpose-driven company if consumers spoke badly of it
  • Half of all employees think their employer should connect them with charitable engagement opportunities
  • Employees who are empowered to engage with charitable giving at their workplace are happier than those who do not
  • Companies with a sense of purpose that is well-defined are 50% more likely to expand into a new market

Essentially, a strong, meaningful CSR-based employee reward system will build a stronger bond between the company and its employees, and give those same employees a unique and positive motivation. You’ll be helping to make the world a better place, and creating a more positive-minded, engaged workforce at the same time. SmartTrade, for example, has seen an 80% engagement rate among employees since the launch of their Sociabble Trees program, and has saved over 10,000 euros in equivalent paid media. And hundreds of carbon-absorbing trees have been planted.

Sociabble as an Employee Engagement Solution

Sociabble Trees is just one feature of the larger Sociabble platform, an employee communication and employee advocacy solution designed to create informed, engaged, and influential employees. Sociabble serves as a central communications hub with administered channels and easy re-posting to social media, with gamification features to boost employee interaction. In the digital reality of today’s corporate world, paper newsletters, group emails, and even intranets alone simply won’t cut it.

Sociabble is backed up by methodology as well, with step-by-step guidance for your launch and adoption, and a team of CSM professionals ready to help. Sociabble has already been used by companies like Walt Disney, Coca-Cola, Renault, and L’Oreal to manage their employee communications. We’ve launched hundreds of programs in over 80 countries around the world to date.

To learn more about Sociabble Trees, and how to reward employees, click here. To learn more about Sociabble in general, just click here for a free demo. We’d love to chat.