They’ve created a new program for employees enrolled in payroll giving — a paid humanitarian mission to Nepal, Bolivia, Kenya, or Ecuador.
I like happy stories.
You know how the news cycle is so toxic, you can read 10 consecutive stories about the worst possible behaviors exhibited by humankind? Then you find one story that is actually uplifting, and it multiplies your happiness by 100 because you realize maybe people can be nice sometimes?
That’s how I felt after speaking with CFO Heather Mercier about Experticity’s new humanitarian program for employees.
“We always admired companies like Salesforce that treat giving back as part of their corporate culture,” said Mercier. “About two years ago, we decided an easy way to give back was to have a payroll giving program, where all our employees can give preset dollars to charitable organizations.”
After a company-wide vote to determine what the payroll giving program would concentrate on, Experticity settled on clean water. They chose six different charitable organizations around the world and set up a system where employees could donate a portion of their paycheck to any of these charities.
On the one year anniversary of setting up payroll giving, Experticity selected two employees to go on a humanitarian mission to Bolivia, expenses paid. This was met with such great feedback that Experticity has created a new program, also centered on the idea of giving back — any Experticity employee who has been with the company more than one year and enrolled in payroll giving is eligible to go on a paid humanitarian mission to Nepal, Bolivia, Kenya, or Ecuador.
Under the new program, Experticity will send their first employee to Nepal over Thanksgiving. In a company of over 240 employees, they hope that many more will follow.
“In the beginning, I was really overwhelmed and happy with the generosity,” said Mercier. “Then I get to know the people more — I’ve been at Experticity four-and-a-half years — and it doesn’t surprise me. These people really do want to give back, they have an overwhelming sense of pride they work for an organization that would send people to go make the world a better place.”