Investing in local communities where we operate is an important part of Symantec’s corporate responsibility. By participating in our communities, we are not only gracious neighbors, we also find that it plays a beneficial role to employee morale. Studies have shown the benefits of volunteering for professional development, from increasing leadership skills to building comradery among teams. Volunteering has also been found to have health benefits! Regardless of the innumerable benefits associated with volunteering, one of the most common themes we hear from our volunteers is how rewarding and fulfilling it is to give back.
We’ve challenged our employees to commit to volunteering four hours annually and log their hours in our internal tracking database by 2020. Since we set that goal in FY14, we’ve seen our employee volunteer averages rise to 2.4 hours! In FY16 we initiated a ‘Take 5’ challenge to motivate our employee volunteers. The idea behind ‘Take 5’ was to encourage employees to volunteer five hours of their time and log their hours in our volunteer database. Teams around the world jumped on board the Take 5 challenge with over 600 employees participating in the initiative. As we wrap up our FY16, we wanted to share some volunteer highlights from around the world.
Symantec Bengaluru employees brighten up a school for underprivileged children
In Bengaluru, India, 75 Symantec employees joined together for the ‘Take 5’ challenge. They worked together to bring smiles to the faces of the children studying at Sita School - Society for Educational Exploration. The school caters to underprivileged children from five surrounding villages that would otherwise not have access to education.
Employees spent the day working in teams, sprucing up different areas of the school. While some employees cleaned and leveled the playground and water well area, others cleared pathways and covered the compost pit. A team scraped the walls of the library to prepare them for painting. Employees even raised funds through a donation drive to purchase bookshelves for the school.
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“This is the first time I’ve participated in such a volunteering program. It felt great to give back to society. What I enjoyed the most was the smile on the children’s faces,” said Tushar Bharadwaj, Web Security Engineering.
Delighted by Symantec’s efforts, Jane Sahi, an eminent educationalist and the founder of Sita School exclaimed, “I'm amazed! To be honest, I was a little nervous when I heard you guys were coming. I thought you guys might just come for a picnic, but everybody was working so hard and it was very helpful. I thought you'd all come late but everyone was right on time. I also thought everyone would come in clothes you can't work in, but again I was wrong.”
“I also liked the way everyone had lunch together and there was no wastage of food. I really appreciate it because it's not easy coming from right across the town and also working in this hot sun. The work that you did was not easy either. It was a pleasure seeing you all, and the children are really happy,” Jane added.
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Symanteclaus in Sydney!
While it is way past December, the Symantec Sydney team has been busy that last few months with their annual charity initiative, Symanteclaus. Each year, the team builds momentum around the Symanteclaus initiative to gather donated gifts and funds for the local Salvation Army.
As part of their support for the Salvation Army, some of the team also participated in the ‘Take 5’ challenge by volunteering at the Salvation Army warehouse to pack gifts and food for those in need. They also held their annual end of year event where each staff member donated one non-perishable food item for the Salvation Army. Each year employees look forward to this drive and the whole team gets involved. Overall, over 30 new gifts were purchased valued at $1,200 AUD and six star employees volunteer 27 hours of their time. On top of the gifts and the volunteer hours, the Salvation Army also received a US$5,000 grant from Symantec. This grant was part of Symantec’s quarterly volunteer grant donation program. Every quarter, each Symantec location is eligible to give a $5000 volunteer grant donation to a non-profit. Major Peter McGuigan, Public Relations and Fundraising Director of the Salvation Army, said that these funds were used to cover the transport of goods and gifts to remote locations in Australia.
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England and Ireland teams deliver Symantec’s Online Safety in the Community program
Symantec’s Online Safety in Community program has been a big hit across England and Ireland. It is designed to teach students how to navigate the web safely by identifying and managing the risks that exist online. The students learn about a variety of online safety issues, such as password security, cyberbullying, social networking, and how people and companies can use your public information. In February, Symantec volunteers went to different schools to present to the students. February is notable month because Safer Internet Day falls of February 10th. As a cybersecurity company, Safer Internet Day’s goal of promoting a more responsible and safer online environment for young people is very relevant for us and we wanted to share our knowledge with young students. Almost 20 volunteers presented the Online Safety in the Community course to almost 650 students in England and Ireland!
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There are many opportunities to volunteer – whether it is something you want to do on your own or part of a group. Symantec’s local community relations committees help identify and organize volunteer activities to get involved. We also have programs in place to maximize our employees’ impact! Symantec’s Dollars for Doers Program rewards volunteerism by making a monetary contribution to organizations where employees volunteer their time. Symantec donates $15 for every hour of volunteer service that an employee contributes, up to $1,000 per calendar year, beginning with the first hour of service. Our Employee Matching Grant Program that matches employee donations to eligible charities dollar-for-dollar up to $1,000 per employee per calendar year.
Questions? Contact Community_Relations@Symantec.com.
