New Benevity Report Reveals the Power Corporate Purpose Programs Play in Employee Retention

As businesses struggle to retain top talent, new data from Benevity uncovers the need to integrate purpose into company culture

 
CALGARY, Alberta – November 17, 2022 – Benevity, Inc., the leading provider of global corporate purpose software, today released its Talent Retention Study, a report from Benevity Impact Labs that reveals companies see a 52% lower turnover rate among newer employees who participate in corporate purpose programs including workplace giving, volunteering and micro-actions.

To further understand the link between new employees’ participation in a corporate purpose program and their tenure at a company, Benevity analyzed data from over 10.6 million Benevity platform users at more than 400 companies around the world. The study highlights how corporate social responsibility (CSR) and HR professionals can involve employees in doing good during their onboarding and keep them engaged in these programs during their tenure. It also uncovers best practices for companies to follow to boost employee involvement in purpose programs from the get-go and grow engagement over time.

The study comes at a crucial time, as employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost $7.8 trillion in lost productivity globally, according to Gallup. Companies can more effectively engage employees at all levels – especially millennials and Gen Zers, who make up 46% of the full-time workforce in the U.S. and average just two to three years of tenure – by boosting participation in corporate purpose programs.

Businesses that engage their employees in doing good are retaining and attracting top talent while strengthening their company culture.

— Sona Khosla, Benevity’s Chief Impact Officer

Key findings from the report include:

• Companies see a 52% lower turnover among newer employees – those who have been with a company for 2.5 years or less – who participate in their corporate purpose programs.
• New hires participate less in purpose programs than longer tenured employees. New employees (under one year at a company) have a participation rate of 6%, compared to 20% for employees who have been with a company for more than two years. With 40% of employees in the study being new to their company and/or their corporate purpose plan, businesses must engage and educate these newer employees earlier and more intentionally to help mitigate short-term job hopping.
• CSR programs also influence longer tenured employees’ retention. For employees who have been at a company six years or less, this group is 29% less likely to leave a company if they participate in their company’s purpose program.
• The impact of purpose programs on retention is consistent across regions. Participating employees with 2.5 years’ tenure or less saw a 51% reduction in turnover in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while participating employees of the same tenure in the Asia-Pacific region saw a 50% reduction.

Engaging employees in CSR programs at every level and making sure they are participating early and often is key to increasing their tenure at a company. Incorporating purpose into onboarding, connecting CSR efforts to affinity groups or employee resource groups (ERGs), and finding ways to encourage employee giving and action throughout the year are just a few tactics the report highlights to increase participation in purpose programs and ultimately boost retention.

“This past year and a half revealed just how easily employees are leaving companies and jumping to other jobs,” said Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer at Benevity. “There are a number of reasons for that, but we know that workers, especially ones entering the workforce for the first time, are increasingly prioritizing finding meaning and purpose in their workplace. Businesses that engage their employees in doing good are retaining and attracting top talent while strengthening their company culture.”

To learn more about how purpose programs can be used to retain employees, read Benevity’s Talent Retention Study here.

About Benevity 
Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is the leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suite of community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions. Recognized as one of Fortune’s Impact 20, Benevity offers cloud solutions that power purpose for many iconic brands in ways that better attract, retain and engage today’s diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact their communities. With software that is available in 22 languages, Benevity has processed more than $10 billion in donations and 46 million hours of volunteering time to support 326,000 nonprofits worldwide. The company’s solutions have also facilitated 770,000 positive actions and awarded 1.2 million grants worth $12 billion. For more information, visit benevity.com.  

About the Study
Benevity analyzed data from over 10.6M users from over 400 companies on the Benevity platform that are a minimum of 14 months old to allow for a full one-year cycle for each user to participate as some users participate on a more seasonal basis. Analysis was completed in August 2022.

Media Contact:
Maggie Crouch│Walker Sands, for Benevity│benevity-pr@walkersands.com