A desire to give without expecting anything in return has become
almost a rare characteristic in today’s society.
When a company’s entire employee base exhibits this trait, it’s
truly extraordinary.
A desire to give without expecting anything in return has become almost a rare characteristic in today’s society.
When a company’s entire employee base exhibits this trait, it’s truly extraordinary.
San Benito Bank – Hollister:
With an overwhelming sense of pride in their community and their company, San Benito Bank employees are committed to making the community the best it can be through countless hours spent volunteering.
With a professional environment that encourages volunteering, half of the 55 employees either sit on boards or serve officer positions in different organizations. With an impressive list of 63 local organizations bank employees volunteer with, last year the employees garnered more than 2,200 hours of volunteer time.
Volunteering is not required at the bank, but it is encouraged, said Jack Hance, vice president of the commercial banking group.
“The community is our home, the community is our livelihood,” Hance said. “We get back from the community what we put into the community.”
If an employee is adamant about a cause and volunteer time cuts into company time, the bank has no problem allowing the employee time off to donate that time and energy, Hance said.
This giving attitude creates a workplace environment conducive not only to better business but better human relations as well.
“People can work together that may not get a chance to work together (in the workplace),” he said. “everybody’s on the street together.”
After 20 years, the bank has had ample time to build a copious list of organizations they contribute to, but it started with an idea and a concept of being part of the community.
Jumping in where help is needed and having the commitment to make it last can help any company build a volunteer base such as San Benito Bank’s, Hance said.
“The success of this community is the success of our company,” he said.
“That’s why we’re so strong behind it – both hands working together.”
Christopher Ranch – Gilroy:
Striving to keep their employees happy and give back to the community at the same time has been one of Christopher Ranch’s goals since its inception in 1956.
Because many of its employees live in and around Gilroy, contributing to local groups, schools and organizations is just another way of keeping them happy by creating a better community, owner Bill Christopher said.
Supporting high school athletics, giving gift baskets for auctions and fund raisers, involvement with the Gilroy Garlic Festival and several other community activities are annual donations Christopher Ranch makes.
Although the company doesn’t officially encourage volunteering, a pride in their company and their community emanates from its employees.
“As a business, we do more monetary giving,” Christopher said. “(The employees) volunteer because that’s just the kind of people they are.”
The company gets many requests for help every year and tries to spread donations around to different organizations. This year, they are limiting some of their donations because of the rough economy, Christopher said.
Christopher Ranch will do as much as it can with what it has, Christopher said.
“Since the community supports our business, I feel to give back is a reciprocal deal between us and the community,” he said.
BookSmart – Morgan Hill:
With a small employee base of about 14 full and part-time employees, the group at BookSmart still manages to do a lot of good for its community.
Allowing employees to volunteer on company time, being flexible with their schedule and supporting the causes they think are important are several ways owners Cinda Meister and Brad Jones encourage community involvement.
“It’s a priority for us, and that either spills over to the employees or those are the kind of people that gravitate toward our environment,” Meister said. “A community is only as good as the people that make it up, and we like to give back.”
As Morgan Hill’s lone book store for the past eight years, having employees being connected to the community is good for both personal and business relations, Meister said.
The simple fact that volunteering in the community makes the employees feel better as people in turn makes them better employees as well, she said.
“Communities need volunteers. … It makes everything work smooth and feel better,” Meister said. “We care deeply about our community.”
