Companies Giving Back to the Community and Their Employees

There is no playbook for how to address the current crisis – not for how businesses handle communication with and support for their employees, and not for how companies give back to their communities. We’re all essentially winging it, and learning through trial and error. But there are some companies doing an exceptional job – and we can all learn from them. Some companies have built a single impactful program designed to benefit the community, and others have put together an impressive offering of small gestures to benefit its people. The most successful efforts across the board have been companies who have tied their “giving back” efforts back to their company mission – walking the talk, so to speak. We’ve gathered a roundup of notable company efforts, which is by no means comprehensive. Use each of these companies’ efforts as a springboard of ideas for launching or sharing out your own programs. Boston Scientific At Boston Scientific, their priority has been to protect and aid the health and safety of their employees, their physician customers and their patients. That means finding new and creative ways to support the frontline healthcare workers working tirelessly to address the COVID-19 pandemic. They are collaborating with hospitals, universities and industry peers to find new and innovative ways to address the urgent demand for protective personal equipment (PPE) and ventilators. They’ve also contributed more than $2M to aid COVID-19 relief efforts globally through monetary and supply donations, and by providing engineering and manufacturing expertise and resources. Boston Scientific is also providing support to children, families and the most vulnerable through direct financial contributions to local community and global non-profit organizations. HanesBrands As early as March, HanesBrands announced that they would be converting the manufacturing of apparel to the production of cotton face masks approved by the FDA for use when N95 respirator masks are not required (or are unavailable). HanesBrands This effort is expected to help relieve the pressure on critical supplies of N95 respirator masks and surgical masks. Not only did the company create technical product specifications, including product chemistry and samples of 3-ply cotton masks, they have shared those specifications and patterns with other companies to help ramp the production process. Ten million have already been delivered and the company is now expecting to make approximately 40 million per week. Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits will donate a total of $1 million to the United States Bartenders’ Guild Emergency Assistance Program and the Restaurant Workers Community Foundation. At Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, they’re dedicated to helping members of the restaurant and bar community who have been affected by #COVID-19, and are partnering with #BeamSuntory to donate $1 million to the USBG National Charity Foundation and Restaurant Workers' Community Foundation to support them during this difficult time.

“In a time of great need, it is important to unite efforts to provide the trade with extra resources to ensure everyone ultimately emerges in a position of strength, together.” - #SGWS CEO Wayne Chaplin⁣.

It’s killing the livelihoods of hospitality workers, especially bartenders, who count on the tip structure of this profession to earn a living, and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits is pitching in to help. Grammarly At Grammarly, their mission is to help everyone succeed through better communication. So while the company is in no position to produce N95, it does make a whole lot of sense to lean into their mission and do what they do best: help everyone succeed through better communication. They’ve put together an admirable landing page complete with every type of resource imaginable to help their employees stay safe and informed, plus details on how their contribution financially to relief efforts in cities where they have offices, how they are updating their product to flag bias in language related to the pandemic, plus advice for creating your own response plan. Salesforce Salesforce is supporting a collective effort to get our healthcare professionals the critical personal protection equipment (PPE) they need. To date, they have sourced 50 million units of PPE including masks, gowns, suits, and face shields, for hospitals in the U.S., India, and France. They’re also helping customers around the globe – including 1,600 small businesses – navigate through this crisis by offering free Salesforce Care solutions. This week Salesforce also announced Salesforce Care Small Business Grants to provide resources for the businesses they see as existing at the heart of our communities. Salesforce is also donating $1.5 million to organizations like the Italian Red Cross, Madrid Food Bank, and New York COVID-19 Emergency Fund. The funds will support mitigation and direct relief for vulnerable populations. They’ve also left the door open, as a company, for other opportunities to help in the future, with this statement on their site:

“These times remind us we’re more connected than ever. We continue to look forward, to find ways to help, to look for hope and are humbled by those who have committed to doing the same.” – Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO

Related: How to Communicate Change to Your Team

Adobe In the face of this unfolding crisis, Adobe has committed to supporting their neighbors locally and globally, and are joining forces with other tech leaders in the Bay Area to support the COVID-19 Coronavirus Regional Response Fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a trusted foundation that serves a network of local non-profits. Adobe’s $1 million donation will help provide local low-income individuals and families with immediate financial assistance to help pay rent or meet other basic needs. Adobe is also making a $1 million donation to the COVID-19 Fund of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the recognized global leader in providing rapid disaster relief and basic human and medical services. For the month of April, they are also committing $1 million to match – and double – employee donations to organizations that are providing direct COVID-19 relief efforts. And, on a product front, Adobe is helping educators facilitate distance learning through greater access to Adobe Creative Cloud desktop apps and free distance learning resources. DocuSign DocuSign is joining forces with 24 other Bay Area companies to commit an initial $22M in collective funding for organizations on the front lines. DocuSign funds will be earmarked to support low-income individuals and families, nonprofit organizations and small businesses that are impacted by this crisis in each of the 10 Bay Area counties. In addition to DocuSign’s support for the Bay Area initiative, the DocuSign IMPACT Foundation is matching employee contributions to other regional organizations at 200% to help serve the communities around the world most affected by this crisis. Macro Consultants Macro is contributing to Feeding America, an organization working to ensure people do not go hungry in these difficult times. Macro is also finding creative ways to give back to their employees during COVID-19 including a quickly assembled yet comprehensive offering of employee wellness and engagement programs designed to keep morale up, blood moving, connections strong, and nerves calm. Here’s some of the initiatives that every employee has access to: Zoom trivia nights, virtual yoga classes, “Quarantine Cuisine” cooking shows led by employees, a fully executed Murder Mystery game, “Cribs: Macro Edition,” a game where employees anonymously submit pictures of their WFH space and the company has to guess whose space is whose, wellness posts three times a week that include tips & tricks for staying healthy during this time, a Macro “Social Fitness” Challenge, meditation sessions via Zoom twice a week, and 1:1 HR check-ins with every employee. This list of companies doing a great job at giving back to their employees and their communities is by no means exhaustive. We’ll continue to highlight great work over the coming weeks, and – in the meantime – may we all be inspired to do what makes sense for us as individuals and as companies for the greater good.

Learn More Glassdoor’s COVID-19 Resources