INTEL A conversation with Tal Ezra-Shemer, Volunteering Manager at Intel Israel T ogether with the use of innovative technology, the Intel Volunteer Program is making a huge difference. The difference is seen in how they have changed the concept of How do you preserve a volunteering culture during the COVID era?
Volunteering was possible for our flagship initiative “AI for Youth”, which promotes advanced technological skills for students and makes the field of artificial intelligence accessible to them - as it was possible to be done from home. Our volunteers accompanied the students remotely in various projects in the field of artificial intelligence. Another good example is the "Connected" project, in which our volunteers developed and produced a device in their homes that allows hundreds of elderly people to connect with their families during the quarantine period through a video call with the push of a button. We continued to hold social engagements on campus as well for our factory workers who worked on campus. Did the remote volunteering contribute to the connectedness of the employees like it did with physical volunteering? The employees who witnessed that Intel doesn’t give up volunteering even in such a challenging period and finds innovative ways to sustain it, ended up appreciating the company that they work for more than ever. In that sense, there was a significant contribution to employee connectedness. We worked hard to increase the sense of meaning even when the volunteering was done from home, to show them the extent of their influence, even when remote. There were moments along the way in which we felt virtual volunteer fatigue, and each time we worked towards reducing it, to let the employees feel the act of volunteering. We did this by enabling physical volunteering that reaches them at home, to allow them
volunteering and expanded it out into society, the goals they set for social involvement, the launch of the matching program and the creative donation solutions created during COVID-19. Intel has set goals for the next decade for various aspects of corporate responsibility. These are ambitious goals, and they include Intel's social involvement goals. I see volunteering as a key tool for creating a sense of belonging and pride, and therefore in my opinion it contributes significantly to employee connectedness even if the volunteering is taking place from home. A study conducted by Ruach Tova and Deloitte showed that social engagement leads to a potential increase of up to 33% in employee commitment and up to 16% in employee productivity; and with data, I don't argue. How did you manage to change the company's volunteering system during the Corona outbreak, and adapt it to work from home? During COVID, we were the first to retain our employees and allow them to work from home. All of these changes immediately applied as well to our volunteering structure. We adjusted our entire system so that it would be possible to volunteer from home.
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