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The Chair of Sustainability "Alejandro E. Grullón E.", of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra and the Popular Foundation, held the Dialogue on Corporate Social Responsibility: Corporate volunteering in times of Covid-19, with Dr. Juan Ángel Poyatos , director of the corporate volunteer network Voluntare.org, International Corporate Volunteer Network, and founder of Voluntariado y Estrategia, from where he works on the volunteer plans of companies such as Telefónica, ENDESA, Orange, Deutsche Bank, Caixa, Santander, Samsung , Iberdrola and Repsol.
The activity was carried out in order to encourage corporate volunteering in the private sector in the Dom. Rep. and show alternatives on how to carry it out during the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Angye Rincón, director of the Chair of Sustainability "Alejandro E. Grullón E.".
Dr. Poyatos highlighted that the company is one of the main sources through which people volunteer, taking into account that "We are not only talking about social responsibility, we are even talking about citizen mobilization."
“Corporate volunteering brings benefits for the company itself, it influences the development of skills, pride of belonging, diversity, inclusion, and talent attraction. One of the most important impacts for businesses is the increase in the commitment of their employees, pointing out that in a study he conducted in Colombia, volunteering increased employee commitment by 20% ”, added Poyatos.
Given the results of this study, Dr. Poyatos concluded that "in economic terms, we are talking about a lot of money, and the importance for the company of having employees with that level of engagement, commitment, that feeling of being aligned with the company, to be recognized for what they are doing, it is a very important value and companies invest a lot of resources, so volunteering is a fabulous tool for that connection”.
In the current pandemic situation, volunteering has been made difficult, and in order to continue with it, Dr. Poyatos indicated that "it has required a very important innovation exercise, an innovation not exclusively linked to technology, but an innovation of thinking in a different way, responding to the needs with the resources and the variables with which we have had to play”.
As a result of this, established Dr. Poyatos, virtual volunteering is growing, in order to respond to the paradigm shift, new needs and the desire to help and to mobilize people. He highlighted training through webinars, food donations, technological elements to reinforce remote education, awareness campaigns, and online support for older people.
Dr. Poyatos appreciated “the ability we have to volunteer from home is tremendous. Of course, it is not going to replace face-to-face volunteering, but it is a way that we are looking at how we can intervene.”
Among the greatest advantages offered by the virtual modality of volunteering, Dr. Poyatos emphasized its ability to promote inclusion, motivation in young people, its agility to mobilize, its sustainability and its accessibility.
In his closing remarks, Dr. Poyatos highlighted that "virtual volunteering is very important, because volunteering is virtual, but volunteers are not virtual, they are flesh and blood people who have the same desire to help as any person or face-to-face volunteer.”
It was aimed at CSR and sustainability managers from the private sector, managers of small and medium-sized companies, human resources managers, representatives of the third sector, and PUCMM professors and students.