We encourage our employees to underpin the pillars of the bank’s citizenship where they can. In 2017, more than one in five employees (excl. Postbank)—17,417 people globally—volunteered over 235,000 hours in our education, enterprise, and community projects. Volunteering not only boosts the impact of our CSR programs, but also has a positive impact on the personal development, motivation, and loyalty of our colleagues. We therefore focus our volunteering program on employee skills and knowledge—enabling people to become coaches for social enterprises in the Made for Good context or mentors to young people in Born to Be. But community challenges continue to be an integral part of our engagement efforts, both for employees and for vocational or graduate trainees. We incentivize volunteering through paid leave, charitable donations, and in-kind support.
In addition to giving time and sharing their skills, many employees participate in fundraising activities for non-profit organizations. Our Charities of the Year, Donate One Day, and payroll giving schemes make it easy to donate, and the matched giving programs in the US, the UK, South Africa, Singapore and Australia incentivize personal contributions. In Hong Kong, India and Singapore, colleagues participated in a joint fundraising effort for Hair for Hope, raising more than € 100,000. In 2017, a total of € 10.5 million was raised via these giving programs (total donations of employees and the bank).
The highlights in 2017 include the annual Charity Trading Day in South Africa, which raised three million South African rand (approximately 200,000 euros) for Born to Be projects like the Empowervate’s Youth Citizen Action Programme, which motivates young people to create positive change. In the fall, employees across Asia Pacific turned the region into a community of volunteers and givers. DeutscheBike charity races continued in several places and were extended by the first-ever DeutscheRun team marathon engaging some 380 participants in total. Sal Oppenheim employees have taken part in a similar annual initiative (Stadtradeln) since 2008 to raise awareness for climate change and sustainable mobility.