What will you bring on your 2022 journey?
How is it already the end of December? Somehow, we have made it through a year that seemed to be simultaneously endless and rocketing past. The roadmap of 2021 has been a path of progress toward important changes in our communities and in our sector.
For companies, the 2020 commitments to improve racial equity and diversity are OUT as they became new initiatives for hiring and promoting workers in 2021. Go-to-the-workplace-every day is OUT as we ushered in a seismic shift toward hybrid work environments that embrace both virtual and in-person experiences, a significant shift for those working to build employee volunteering and engagement programs. A labor shortage will continue to be IN for 2021 including its pressure on wages and working conditions to attract and retain workers. This battle issues IN the newly empowered worker voice advocating for additional policy and work-life balance changes. And while we all wished and hope that it was OUT, the prolonged presence of COVID in our lives continues to be IN, along with a new requirement for flexibility and creativity in how we work and gather together. Flexibility is IN for those in the citizenship sector. 2021 helped us to elevate an option-rich environment for a civically engaged life for employees and brands.
Building a new understanding of the many ways people connect to support and serve their communities, both online and in-person, is represented in Points of Light’s Civic Circle. It offers fresh opportunities to strengthen and connect the impact of investments of time, talent and financial support.
What new behaviors and initiatives will make your IN list for 2022? What will you let go on your OUT list to create the light and space for change?
Our thoughts on Ins and Outs:
In |
Out |
ESG |
Philanthropy disconnected from authentic business values |
Employee voice |
Volunteering without choice |
Community requested corporate engagement |
Corporate need-based volunteering |
Civic Circle engagement framework |
Not counting engagement beyond the 501 c3 |
Equity at the center |
Institutionalized exclusion |
Listen & Learning at the start |
Deficit-based mindset |
Paid time off to vote |
No time to vote during the workday |
Nudging |
Pleading |
Storytelling |
Restrictions on employee social media use |
Earned employee loyalty |
Assuming paychecks buy loyalty |
Hybrid volunteering |
Big Zoom events |
COVID safe in-person gatherings |
Fears of asking vaccine status or requesting guests take a test before gathering |
Trust-based philanthropy |
20 paged grant proposals and reporting requirements |
Supplier diversity, using corporate purchase power for good |
Purchasing without alignment to values |
Culture starts with you |
Culture as an after thought |
No normal |
New normal |
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