October 22, 2024 — Benevity Inc., the leading global provider of social impact software, today released The business case for social impact, a report that reveals how Cisco demonstrated the positive impact of employee engagement on business outcomes including retention, performance and peer culture – and more than doubled participation in its employee giving and volunteering programs.

In a time when companies are increasingly expected to show the ROI of their CSR efforts, Cisco set out to quantify the business benefits of engaging in social impact. With the help of their Research and Intelligence team, they conducted a three-year longitudinal study to analyze who participated in social impact programs, what actions they took and how frequently, and then measured this against other employee data such as attrition, promotion, bonuses and recognition.

The data showed that Cisco employees who engaged in at least one community impact action per year experienced:

  • Longer tenure: 12% lower odds of attrition
  • Better odds of promotion: 13% higher promotion rates 
  • Increased bonuses: 4% higher bonuses
  • More peer recognition: 22% more recognition from colleagues

When a team was collectively engaged in giving back, the whole team had higher rates of promotion and recognition among peers. Leaders who engaged in giving back had 20% lower attrition rates for their teams than those of non-engaged leaders. 

Research from Benevity Impact Labs, Benevity’s social innovation hub, delivers similar findings – the company’s Talent Retention Study reveals the link between participation in social impact programs and employee retention. The study analyzes data from 10.6 million users at more than 400 companies on the Benevity platform and finds that companies see a 52% lower turnover among newer employees when they participate in social impact programs.

“Engagement isn’t just good for the community – it’s good for every aspect of a business. Our theory of change was that engaging our people to make positive actions a habit would help us evolve and scale our purpose-driven culture,” said Brian Tippens, Senior Vice President and Chief Social Impact Officer at Cisco. “Now, in partnership with Benevity, we are listening even more closely to our employees to create programs that meet their needs, ultimately empowering them to create greater impact.”

“This new research supports what we have seen time and time again – that focusing on purpose within the workplace results in positive returns for the business,” said Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer at Benevity. “Cisco is an outstanding example of a leading brand that unlocked the economic power of purpose by adopting an impact mindset to deliver a triple win: for its people, its communities and its business.”

The study also reveals how Cisco adopted innovative approaches to grow employee participation in its global social impact programs from 37% to more than 80% in just four years, including 162% growth in volunteer hours and 175% growth in employee donations and matching gifts. In partnership with Benevity, the participation rate has soared to 86%. Over five years, Cisco and its people contributed 2.6 million volunteer hours and $157 million to over 7,000 nonprofits globally.


Other key learnings from the report

Cisco’s business transformation approach to growing employee participation included a three-part strategy:

  • Make it inclusive: Offering flexible options for what counts as giving back drives adoption and employee engagement in social impact programs. 

  • Lean into digitization: Leveraging technology and making participation data transparent to everyone helps create internal buzz and encourage employees to get involved. 

  • Follow the data: Using data to track which campaigns and communications are working, and which aren’t, helps leaders tailor programs to further boost engagement. 



For more information on how Benevity supports clients in boosting engagement in social impact, please visit https://benevity.com.


For more research from Benevity Impact Labs visit https://benevity.com/impactlabs.