The Perceived Effects of Employee Volunteerism on Corporate Image as Experienced by Unilever Philippines

Abstract

In the face of the myriad of problems plaguing the country today, people are not apathetic but are willing to extend a helping hand and reach out to the needy. Organizations engage their employees in employee volunteerism programs, which not only allows them to help improve the quality of life in particular communities, but also burnish the organization’s corporate image. An essential element for an organization's existence in society, corporate image can be honed through carefully planned, long-term programs of charitable contributions to the right cause. A number of studies on this subject have looked into the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs to target beneficiaries, and discussions on corporate image, including those that deal with repair strategies and perceptions to an organization’s image after an organizational change. It was found, however, that there is a lack of data on the perceived effects of employee volunteerism on corporate image; thus, this research sought to fill this gap in knowledge, by providing answers to this question: What are the perceived effects of employee volunteerism on corporate image as experienced by Unilever Philippines? Two perspectives or theories were used in the study: corporate image and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The theory on corporate image explained the importance of managing corporate image through corporate identity and the perceptions of its stakeholders; the perspective on corporate social responsibility clarified an organization's philosophy as a responsible institution in the society and the organization's creative decisions implemented in the society where it operates. A descriptive type of research that employed a case study was carried out to determine the nature, characteristics and effects of Unilever Philippines' employee volunteerism Such effect was further verified through a descriptive survey of the perceptions of stallholders and vendors of Paco Public Market, Unilever's adopted community, on the effects of employee volunteerism on corporate image. From the employees of Unilever Philippines, non-probability or purposive sampling technique was employed to select six key informants who had a long involvement in employee volunteerism programs. Probability sampling technique was also employed to pick employee volunteers from Unilever Philippines and whose number was determined through the Slovin’s formula. Given a .10 level of accuracy, 100 employee-volunteers were randomly selected. For the second population—Paco Public Market’s stallholders and vendors -the same methods were employed to select six key informants who are knowledgeable about the market's status and the stall holders' needs, those who belong to the associations that supervise its operations: the Paco Public Market Stallholders’Associations and Paco Environment Enhancement Program (PEEP), and to pick the 100 stallholders and vendors for the surveys. It was found that Unilever, a consumer product manufacturer with a presence in the Philippines since 1930, has a corporate identity that is aligned with its mission of adding “vitality to life," and that it continues to improve through employee volunteerism. Unilever's continued Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts through its employee volunteerism programs are incorporated under the Integrated League of Unilever Volunteers (InLUV), the official name of its network of employee volunteers, which is charged with the planning, executing, and evaluating of the company’s various programs including community building, youth empowerment, feeding program, and environment cleanup. On the other hand, Paco Public Market, the second biggest public market in Manila, is Unilever Philippines’ adopted community and its beneficiary of support in terms of the market’s environmental concerns and its stall holders’ and vendors' personal needs. The employee volunteers and market stallholders and vendors perceive that employee volunteerism affects Unilever Philippines’ corporate image, and that Unilever is a good, respectable, trustworthy, outstanding, approachable, ci vic-oriented, responsible company, and its initiatives to help the community has resulted in gaining their support and loyalty. In summary, it is concluded that the perceived effects of employee volunteerism on corporate image is that it enhances, improves, builds goodwill, and contributes to the over-all corporate image of Unilever Philippines, thus making it a good, outstanding, attractive, respectable, trustworthy, famous, approachable, responsible, humane, and civic-oriented company that has the initiative in helping genuinely and knowing how to deal with the community, thus gaining the latter’s support and loyalty.