A corporate culture of giving and doing good

LOOKING at the boy running around in front of him, a thought flashed through Jack Kong's head.

"How should I make the 'class' more interesting to capture his attention?"

That was a challenge that Mr Kong, a Singapore Pools employee, had to overcome while volunteering at Sunbeam Place @ Children's Society. "Their attention span is very short. Hence, you need to find activities to keep them interested. But I enjoy working with children, and you can really see the growth and improvement if you spend more time with them," he said.

The event - held before the recent tightened Phase 2 Heightened Alert measures started in mid-May - was organised by Tender Loving & Care (TL&C), one of Singapore Pools' many CSR initiatives which are under the company's iShine Community Programme.

Formed in 2003, the iShine (I Serve from the Heart and In Nurturing Everyone) is a corporate and staff volunteerism initiative supported by the organisation, and championed by staff leaders.

Each employee is also given two days of leave for volunteering.

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Singapore Pools CEO Lam Chee Weng said: "Singapore Pools, which was established in 1968, was created to be 'For Community Purpose and Benefit'. Believing that supporting initiatives and causes that our staff are passionate about is one way which we achieve this vision. This has led to the 'birth' of six ground-up initiatives which were initiated by our staff, and run by them."

PART OF THE BUSINESS

Besides ground-up initiatives, iShine includes corporate-led ones, forming a structured volunteerism programme that is a core part of Singapore Pools' business.

"We are committed towards our vision, as we strive to provide a deep and sustained positive social impact in the community, building a corporate culture of giving and doing good. Strong partnerships are forged with organisations ranging from government agencies, social service agencies and other non-profit organisations, to develop collaborative volunteerism activities," added Mr Lam.

Mr Kong, who has been a staff volunteer since he joined Singapore Pools 10 years ago, said that as leader of TL&C - which focuses on helping children - he has been involved in cross collaboration between the different projects under iShine.

"For example, we previously worked with another group of colleagues who were volunteering in the environment space. Together with them, we managed to organise nature walks and terrarium workshops for the children. Such activities are beneficial to their development."

However, the journey of giving back is not without its challenges. Mr Kong, who is assistant manager, customer segment management, said that besides trying to sustain the children's attention, building rapport with them was another obstacle that had to be overcome.

"But, despite the hurdles, we acquired the skillset of engagement - in this case engaging the kids and building a relationship with them. Along our volunteering journey, we were also trained by the National Library Board in storytelling skills under its KidsREAD programme."

The father of two added that on a personal level, these acquired skills were useful when he read books to his children.

"We learned from the NLB programme that the whole idea of storytelling is to get the children to be involved in the process. For example, we need to describe the pictures and ask questions, instead of merely reading the words in the book. On a professional level, these initiatives have helped to hone communication skills and bond the staff."

He added that they would also seek feedback from the beneficiaries after execution of the projects to see which areas needed improvement, to ensure the longevity of the initiatives.

In line with Singapore Pools' commitment to create an ecosystem of giving back, the iShine Volunteers mobile app was launched in August 2020, which serves as a one-stop platform for staff to manage their volunteering journey and reach out to more staff volunteers.

Mr Lam said that with the app, staff can view and sign up for upcoming volunteering opportunities, chat with fellow volunteers, register their attendance and view their volunteering history via their mobile phones.

Some of the future enhancements to the app include rewards systems to show appreciation to volunteers; and allowing access to external volunteers, including staff's family members, Tote Board, and Singapore Turf Club. Mr Kong said that the app has played a pivotal role in reaching out to more staff, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

"Covid was very challenging for volunteerism. We had to pivot to digital as there wasn't much we could do during the circuit breaker period. But we had to adapt. Hence, we had digital classes such as Zumba, and only when Phase 3 started were face-to-face activities allowed with stringent safety measures in place.

"The kids were clamouring to head out once restrictions were lifted. I believe we were one of the first few corporates to take the kids from Sunbeam Place out to the River Safari."

Cayden Woo, deputy director/head of home operations of Sunbeam Place @ Children's Society, said: "Through these initiatives, many of our children and youths have a chance to learn general knowledge that they can transfer to their studies, and improve in their social skills when it comes to interacting with their peers and adults around them."

In the past financial year, a total of 243 volunteering activities were organised at Singapore Pools, clocking over 10,900 volunteering hours, with the participation of 576 staff.

"We have found that 86 per cent of our staff responded favourably towards iShine programme in our employee engagement survey conducted in December 2020 - they were proud of iShine as an important part of Singapore Pools' corporate identity: 92 per cent felt Singapore Pools generated positive social impact in the community through iShine: and 77 per cent felt that participating in iShine activities enhanced job satisfaction in Singapore Pools," said Mr Lam.

Despite the pandemic, figures showed that in FY2020/21, the company's staff volunteerism rate was at a record high of 70 per cent - above the national corporate volunteerism rate at 39 per cent.

In fact, during the circuit breaker period last year, over 470 staff volunteers helped with safe management roles at the Ministry of Finance's Solidarity Payment cheque encashment exercise across 16 community clubs island-wide from May 4-16 last year.

Mr Lam also added that while the pandemic has put a stop to many things globally, doing good cannot stop.

"The iShine Community Programme, which symbolises our spirit of giving, was brought to the fore by the Covid-19 pandemic. We have been reimagining giving and forging new partnerships to allow volunteerism and our sustained social impact to continue."

Hence, Singapore Pools disbursed over S$1 million to the community, including S$350,000 to Community Chest's The Courage Fund, and S$200,000 to the Community Foundation of Singapore' Sayang Sayang Fund.

Going forward, Singapore Pools will expand community partnerships for more volunteering opportunities, as well as create opportunities for skill-based volunteerism, tapping niche skillsets of its staff volunteers to assist community partners in specific areas where help is needed.

This can range from supporting them in their operations, to upskilling beneficiaries through specialised workshops to uplifting beneficiaries through direct engagement.

Mr Lam said: "Ultimately, Singapore Pools wants to create an ecosystem that rallies the passion and skills of its staff and network of partners and customers to come together, foster cross-sector collaboration and co-create for good causes, so as to bring about greater social impact for the community and contribute to the sustainability of the social service system."

FORWARD LOOKING

Mr Kong said that Singapore Pools is forward looking as the company had encouraged its employees to give back even before CSR started hogging headlines. "In this day and age, a company that is steeped in giving back is also one quality that employees look for. This comes with a greater awareness that we, as global citizens, also need to do meaningful and positive impactful work."

When asked if there was an incident or person that has left an indelible mark in his many years of volunteering, the 38-year-old referred to the aforementioned boy.

Mr Kong said: "We got feedback from Sunbeam Place that he has been getting better grades in school. I strongly believe that we should be doing good. When you meet such frustrations, you need to persevere before you can reap the rewards. Especially with children ... you need to think of ways to keep them engaged. It is a journey where you will learn life lessons as well, and I just take it as a challenge which I will not back down from."