Employee Benefits Summit 2012: Freshfields uses Olympic sponsorship role to motivate and engage staff
More than a third (34%) of delegates at the Employee Benefits Summit 2012 will offer themed events for staff during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A further 17% are still making plans around the games, while 15% are undecided, and 34% will offer no Olympic-themed events to staff.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been using its role as a sponsor in the games to engage and motivate its 1,600 employees. Speaking at the summit, James Daffurn, head of corporate social responsibility at the law firm, said its decision to sponsor the games was first and foremost around employee engagement. He added: “We wanted to use the power of the Olympics to unite all our employees, both fee-earning and non-fee-earning.”
Staff were given the opportunity to enter a draw to win free tickets, while one employee in the billings division was chosen by a firm-wide vote to carry the Olympic torch during the Hackney, East London portion of the Torch Relay.
Employees have also been given the opportunity to attend engagement presentations with the firm’s three sponsored athletes, tour the London 2012 sites, participate in a sitting-down volleyball tournament, volunteer in the host boroughs, and take their children in an Olympic-themed party with mascots Wenlock and Mandeville.
Freshfields is also offering a personal challenge to staff, aligned with its health and wellbeing strategy, which has three categories: bronze, silver and gold. The bronze category, which has had more than 1,000 participants, allows employees to set their own sporting or cultural goal. More than 250 employees took part in volunteering projects in June to qualify in the silver category. The gold category offers opportunities to mentor or coach children in the local community.
During the games, the law firm will also set up televisions around its offices to view events, as well as offering flexible working opportunities to all staff.
In a staff survey, 96% of employees said they are advocates for Freshfields’ sponsorship, while 89% feel pride in the firm.
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Readers' comments (2)
Kuljit Kaur, head of business development, The Voucher Shop: | Mon, 25 Jun 2012 10:42 am
As the Team GB athletes make their final preparations for the physical and mental challenges ahead it is interesting to ponder the question of whether employees and businesses in the UK could do well to take on board some of their ‘think success’ attitude.
Modesty and understatement are an integral part of the British psyche, but perhaps it is time for employees to start‘thinking big and for employers to start making a big deal out of rewarding outstanding performance in the workplace, in place of the reticence that currently exists in regard to the recognition of achievements.
Positive thinking is a mental attitude that expects favourable results and businesses that encourage this among their employees will see progressive results in their contribution and performance.
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John Sylvester, executive director, P&MM: | Wed, 27 Jun 2012 5:13 pm
I was pleased to read that more than a third of delegates at the Employee Benefits Summit will offer themed events for staff during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Furthermore, it was good to read that Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been using its sponsorship of the games extensively to engage and motivate its 1,600 employees.
Sponsoring companies should put more emphasis on properly integrating external and internal marketing activities, ensuring they make the most of the opportunities to use these programmes as powerful motivation activities.
This should certainly help ‘unite all employees’.
Businesses invest substantially in communicating with customers, but too often underrate the value of internal marketing to their staff. It is at the point of interaction between customers and employees where the brand promise is either delivered or not.
While other organisations have offered staff the exciting chance to, for instance, attend events, it is encouraging that Freshfields has chosen to take this further and also involve staff in active roles, such as the personal challenge. Aligning this with the company’s health and wellbeing strategy enables employees to truly engage with the company’s activities.
It is no wonder that 96% of the company’s employees are advocates of the sponsorship and 89% feel pride in their company. I believe Freshfields will continue to reap the benefits for both the sponsorship and engagement programmes long after the Olympics ends.
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