Nearly two years after the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees have yet to return to the office. Over 45% of all American workers—and nearly two-thirds of white-collar workers—continue to work remotely. While there are benefits to working from home, the isolated nature of the arrangement can take an emotional and mental toll on employees. Feelings of connectedness are lost through virtual communication, and a sense of purpose and motivation may diminish. Maintaining employee morale has become a challenge for many organizations amid the pandemic.
At UBS, a financial services company, a pillar of our firm’s culture is rooted in how we drive social impact in the communities in which we do business. Through our community impact team, we aim to reduce inequality in jobs and education, partner with leading nonprofits, and activate employees through volunteerism and giving.
Specifically, our education efforts support first-generation college students and students from underrepresented backgrounds. Historically, these groups have faced numerous barriers and limited resources to obtain a college degree and to develop a successful career. Engaging employees through mentoring programs also plays an important role in connecting colleagues to a cause and leveraging their expertise, while furthering our firm’s emphasis on service and impact.
The COVID-19 pandemic threatened to disrupt our work in this area, but luckily we had a solution. We have partnered with Strive for College, a nonprofit organization that provides one-on-one mentorship to students as they navigate the college and financial aid application process.
When the partnership began in 2019, the program was virtually run, allowing UBS employees from offices across the US to participate in the mentoring program. This meant that the reach of our mentors could extend far beyond the neighborhoods and cities in which we were physically present. It has been amazing to see how important the online component has become to the program.
As the pandemic unfolded and the work and learning environment improved, UBS mentors relied on the virtual mentoring program to stay in touch with students and continue to coach them toward college success. Strive is now one of the largest mentorship programs we offer, with more than 250 employees who have mentored nearly 500 students to date.
There are many benefits to providing volunteer opportunities for employees. According to a volunteer survey by Deloitte, such programs can boost morale and the workplace atmosphere. Nearly 90 percent of working Americans polled employers believe volunteer activities provide a better work environment than those who do not, and nearly 80 percent of nonprofits say volunteering is critical to an organization’s well-being. Three out of four workers say volunteer opportunities are bigger morale boosters than traditional perks, like company mixers.
Volunteer work has also been shown to help reduce depression, stress, and anxiety. It increases self-confidence and self-worth and can help slow down or even vice versa decline in cognitive functions.
At the same time, we know there is a great need for mentorship in education, especially for learners from underserved communities and first-generation college students. As the first person in my family to go to university, this is an issue close to my heart. According to a recent poll, having a “mentor who encourages a student’s goals and dreams” is one of the most important factors in whether a college student earns a degree and achieves success after graduation. I certainly didn’t when I was a first-generation college student. Navigating the senior year of high school and the college application and enrollment process can be difficult if you don’t have someone in your network to act as a guide. Companies and their employees can bridge this gap.
Our program with Strive has had a tremendous impact on our employees during the pandemic. It provided a sense of meaning and purpose at a time when there was so much uncertainty. This has helped them stick to our culture of service and drive meaningful impact. It also allowed new team members who joined UBS during the pandemic to form connections with the organization and its ethos—even when they went months without ever meeting a colleague in person. In fact, more than 30 of our mentors are employees who started working at UBS during the pandemic.
Volunteering has long been an effective tool for employers to increase morale, productivity, and retention while also giving back. Virtual mentoring programs allow companies to extend the reach of those kinds of efforts and provide employees with ways to stay connected with each other and their communities.
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