We want to empower our employees to give back to the community through the Nextep Charitable Foundation. This is why we encourage our people to give back on company time — as a team — to the organizations they care about.
Nextep Gives Back Days
This year, we got even more serious about our volunteer efforts. In addition to giving employees eight hours of paid volunteer time each year, we created Nextep Gives Back Days. Twice a year, all ten of our offices set aside their to-do lists and volunteer with the rest of their team. It’s a great way to rally our people behind Nextep’s culture of giving, while also sending out hundreds of volunteers to lend a hand to organizations in our communities.
“We created the Nextep Charitable Foundation to encourage our employees to give back to the community and to support organizations in need,” said Brian Fayak, Nextep’s founder and CEO. “The addition of Nextep Gives Back Days is our opportunity to bring together the entire company for one day to serve our neighbors and make a big impact on a handful of deserving organizations.”
Positive Effects
Our employees have had an overwhelmingly positive response to Nextep Gives Back Days. Not only do we have nearly 100% employee participation, but our people also talk about their experiences giving back throughout the year.
“Nextep has allowed me the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than just collecting a paycheck,” said Carrie Henry, benefits account manager. “Giving back to the community is a very rewarding feeling and something I have always felt I was missing due to time constraints.”
Nextep Gives Back Days have made a difference in our culture and in the lives of our people. That’s why we are ramping up our efforts in 2020. We have big volunteer goals to meet, days of giving to plan, and many more organizations to help!
How to Start Your Own Give Back Day
Because of the size of our company, we create multiple shifts and volunteer opportunities throughout the day. Our employees can volunteer in the morning or afternoon — and they often have a choice of organizations they can serve.
If you want to start your own company-wide day of giving, start by taking a look at the size of your company. Then, ask the organizations you want to volunteer with how many volunteers they can take at once. From there, decide whether you want to create multiple shifts and/or offer your employees opportunities with various organizations.
There are a few key things you can do to ensure your give back day is a success:
- Create morning and afternoon shifts to ensure there are volunteers at the organization you’re serving and at the office available to serve clients throughout the day
- Make sure the organization can accommodate a group of your size
- Provide transportation to and from the volunteer locations
- Serve lunch for our employees as well as provide snacks and water
- Set up volunteer opportunities for remote employees
- Provide volunteer details well before the event so employees can get excited about serving
- Get waivers signed ahead of time
- Thank your people! They’re building up your company culture as well as their community
Check out our social media pages and blogs to learn more about creating a culture of giving!
