Big Returns for Community Involvement

As seen in People Development Magazine, when someone asks if we can afford to be involved in our local community, we answer, “How can we afford not to?”

While part of every bank charter is to give a percentage back to the community in financial education and other services, we find that we receive a lot more through community involvement than we give. Giving back yields high returns in employee morale, employee education, and brand reputation. It’s a win-win relationship between Regions and the community.

Employee Morale

Community involvement improves company morale. We perform an employee engagement survey that measures how employees feel about the company’s ethics, diversity, leadership, and internal alignment. Our results from these surveys in all of those areas are significantly above the average for a company our size. While community involvement is not the only factor involved in these measurements, we believe it’s a huge factor in our success.

How do we get employees involved in the community? We provide corporate sponsored programs like Junior Achievement (JA) and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and offer them time off from work to participate. We also encourage employees to participate in charities of their choosing.

Employees increase their personal satisfaction with Regions because we not only help them be successful at their jobs, but we also support them in causes they love. This aligns them with the bank’s goals, helps them bond with other employees, and makes them feel good about being a member of the community.

Employee Education

Community outreach makes better employees. Every company wants its employees to grow with the company and gain more experience. Community involvement programs help employees grow and perform better in their jobs. Those employees who participate in our JA or VITA programs receive great financial information to help them, too. They gain a greater understanding of financial principles, and as a bank, that’s exactly what we want.

Brand Reputation

When your employees are active in the community, they can emulate a positive image for your brand. Your company has employees who are experts at accounting, marketing, sales, human resources, and customer service, to name a few. What better way to help the community than to have them in the community helping others with their skills?

Employees at all levels of the company serve on boards or committees of numerous organizations, including our executives. This includes partnering with or providing service hours for organizations like People Helping People, United Way, NeighborWorks Salt Lake, Junior Achievement, and the VITA programs, among others.

Contractors and Community Involvement

Should home improvement and remodeling contractors be involved in their communities? What are the benefits?

Contractors are a perfect fit for participation in community programs because your employees have great skills that people and organizations need, including marketing, sales, design, production, installation or construction, budgeting, and finance. As an added bonus, involvement in the community helps get your name known among potential partners, customers, and government officials. You’ll also be able to reach potential customers or partners in more effective ways than your current marketing initiatives or practices. By working with potential customers and partners in a community setting, they’ll get to know you better and trust you more. Finally, you’ll improve your employee morale.

When you give back to the community, the rewards for your company and your employees far exceed the effort. We encourage companies and individuals to look for ways to give back to their communities.