With employers facing the continuous challenge of employee retention, a new study has revealed that supporting charities could hold the answer.
According to research from a Give as you Live survey of 2,000 employees across the UK, 37% would remain at a company longer is they supported charities and local communities more often.
The importance of charity work
Meanwhile, a further 34% said they would like their future employers to rate their charity work as “important”.
The importance of charity work was vital to 48% of those aged 35-44 who said they would be more likely to remain with an employer – while 8% said they, themselves took part in fundraising every day.
However, it wasn’t just the older workforce that felt this, but the younger graduates too – with 56% of those aged 25-34 saying they believe the company they work for could do more for local charities.
Attacting graduate talent
From the research it seems that companies could be involved with charities a lot more, especially as it seems this is the key to retaining talented employees – especially the younger generation of graduates.
While 48% of employees have said they are unsure how much their company has donated to charity in the past 12 months, and 51% believe their employer hasn’t done any charity work, it could be time for businesses to up their game.
Greg Hallett, Managing Director at Give as you Live, commented that many UK businesses are actually coming across as less appealing by failing to get involved in charity work.
While it’s a common misconception that charity work takes a lot of time and resource, with the use of the internet, businesses can now donate online, he added.
This research clearly highlights the importance of charity work when it comes to retaining graduate talent, so should this be the next step for employers?
