League of Volunteer Employees (LOVE) Program
Resorts World Manila
With management seeing the value of strengthening employee engagement, RWM developed LOVE to serve as an umbrella program to promote a culture of volunteerism.
INTRODUCTION
RWM has streamlined its corporate social responsibility programs to focus on three main thrusts, namely Philippine Tourism and the Arts, Social Development, and Environmental Sustainability. In line with making these advocacies easier to grasp and subsequently more accessible for individuals to participate in, the company developed the League of Volunteer Employees (LOVE) Program.The objective of RWM’s LOVE Program is to be able to 1) provide opportunities for employees to engage in corporate citizenship and/or volunteerism on a regular basis; 2) develop a Points Rewards System commensurate to an employee’s volunteer act for each Corporate Social Responsibility activity laid down for every year; and 3) encourage team effort in generating volunteer points to be translated into further acts of charity.
The program awards volunteering acts with grants that provide employees with more opportunities to conduct further charity work. In essence, repaying love with love.
FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGY
With management seeing the value of strengthening employee engagement, RWM developed LOVE to serve as an umbrella program to tie all of the company’s CSR efforts together under the banner of volunteerism.The program encouraged employees to participate in activities such as blood donation drives, monthly recycling, and CSR day engagements. By providing various projects oriented differently between relevant social issues, the company was able to provide an avenue for individuals to volunteer under their own terms and within their capabilities.
With the Points Rewards System in place, the services rendered by employees are rewarded with grants for further charitable projects. Aside from opening more opportunities, the freedom of choosing a beneficiary foundation provides employees a sense of ownership of the program. Having business units develop and execute their own activity likewise provides opportunities for teams to build cohesion within their ranks.
ACHIEVEMENT AND IMPACT
RWM’s LOVE Program has enlisted almost 750 volunteers, ranging from rank and file employees to executives, between the covered timeframe of August 2014 to August 2015. This makes up close to 15 percent of the company’s workforce which eclipses the company’s goal of achieving 10 percent employee volunteerism. These employees earned a total of 70,000 LOVE Points through various company-initiated activities.Apart from the quantifiable benefits, these CSR Day activities provided 240 employees with firsthand experience in charity work which lays the foundation for future volunteering acts. These volunteer employees then become active participants in the company’s advocacies eventually influencing colleagues to follow suit.
The value that the LOVE Program provides for the company can be measured in both quantitative and qualitative means. Overall, it communicates the company’s dedication towards achieving corporate citizenship at the same time empowering its workforce by instigating a proactive stance towards socially relevant issues.
FUTURE DIRECTION
Paving the way for employees to engage social issues on a personal level, the LOVE program has achieved its goal of involving individuals in the company’s CSR advocacies. Moving forward, the program will evolve into an even more empowering platform called LOVE Grants. With this new framework, employee volunteers can develop and execute their own CSR activities to be fully funded and accordingly guided by the company.Aside from acknowledging and rewarding volunteer employees for their efforts, The LOVE Program has succeeded in educating personnel about the importance of charity work through a proactive information drive. With a communication plan designed to encourage audiences to act on kind principles, the company raises both individual and collective consciousness on particular social issues in the fields of environment conservation, culture and the arts, and social development.
Resorts World Manila (RWM) is the first one-stop, non-stop entertainment and tourism destination in the Philippines that features recreational thrills, world-class performances, unique events, and exciting lifestyle options. It is owned and operated by Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. – a publicly listed company wherein Alliance Global Group Inc. and Genting Hong Kong are majority shareholders.
