It’s a no brainer why a company should give back to their community, support their city’s growth, and help with their city’s needs. What often goes overlooked is the benefit corporate social responsibility can have on your employees, especially if your company does more hands-on outreach.

It feels good to give back, and when you give that opportunity to your employees, you allow them to come back to work feeling positive, refreshed, and recharged. For us, we try to offer some sort of volunteer opportunity for our employees at least once every month. We have multiple organizations that we work with including, the Child Life Program at the Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, the Austin Hatcher Foundation, Operation Get Active, and more.

It does so much for your community, and it does so much for your employees. Check out what some of our employees said about volunteering:

“I had a great time giving back to the community and providing hot meals during Thanksgiving. It means a lot to me to be able to give back to the community I was born and raised in and help others who have been less fortunate than myself. Working for a company that actively looks to better the community we are in and serve is a big deal to me and just another reason why I am proud to represent Trident Transport on the daily.” – Joe Daniel, volunteered at Chattanooga Outreach Inc.’s Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner

“I’ve been able to donate blood and was able to do so through Trident. I always love giving when it’s an option and giving blood is something I wish we could do more often. I had a blast doing it and know it will help a lot to the people that really need it! Hope we can do this again soon.” – Logan Teasley, donated blood during our Trident Blood Drive with Blood Assurance.

“I was honored to be able to volunteer at both The Children’s Hospital for Christmas and The Austin Hatcher Foundation. It is amazing what the great people are doing at both places. From dressing up as a giant elf wrapping and handing out presents with Santa all the way to doing science experiments with the children at the Austin Hatcher Foundation, it was a great reminder to myself how precious and joyful life really is. I would not trade it for the world and looking forward to many more volunteer days in the future!” – Brady Willocks, volunteered at The Austin Hatcher Foundation summer camp with Trident & during Christmas at the Children’s Hospital at Erlanger.

“I went to the Erlanger children’s hospital to do crafts and it was a very gratifying experience playing and talking with the kids (mostly cancer patients) as I once lived in a hospital for a year dealing with my own serious illness. I remember volunteers coming in to see me through that time to keep my spirits up, so it really felt great to be able to give back.” – Brad Carroll, volunteered at the Children’s Hospital at Erlanger with Trident.

“I volunteered at a community-wide distribution one Saturday morning at the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. We had a big number of Trident employees that volunteered that morning, so it was great to spend time with fellow employees outside of work in a different setting, and even better that we were all working together to help others in the community that need services from great organizations like the Chattanooga Area Food Bank!” – Scott Bruce, volunteered at the Chattanooga Area Food Bank with Trident.

Through our consistent approach, our employees are able to witness first-hand what they’re giving their time and resources to. They get to experience brightening up a child’s day, connecting with others, and helping others in our communities.

Next time your company is planning to give back to your community, try involving your employees or setting up volunteer opportunities for them. Allowing your employees to take time out of their day to give back to their community will increase employee happiness, engagement, and productivity. We’ve seen it ourselves.

Check out our photo gallery from past volunteer events our employees have participated in here!