A national survey found that 51% of employees were not engaged in their job last year. Even worse, 17.5% were actively disengaged. These were the highest levels measured since 2000.
This issue of engaging employees combined with a 3.2% unemployment rate in the local economy creates significant challenges for companies. Business owners know that attracting, retaining, and engaging employees is vital for their companies to grow and be sustainable over the long term.
With these realities, what can business owners do? If you have employees who are passionate about volunteering for a particular cause or organization (i.e. mentoring kids, cleaning up a river, serving a meal to the homeless, etc), there is an option. You could consider creating a “work-share” program with a nonprofit or mission organization.
In effect, you would be allowing these employees to “work” for an organization and pay them for their time there. In doing so, you would be helping these employees regain their sense of purpose (coming back to your business with a renewed sense of commitment) and filling a need of a local nonprofit or mission organization.
There are steps you should think through to do this legally. But, think about the impact you could have in your business and your community. If you would like to learn about how to structure this, feel free to contact me.
