VMware

Creating Change event with Emma Dabiri

Employee Wellbeing and Virtual Volunteering at VMware

Over the pandemic VMware refocused its emphasis on employee wellbeing and pivoted its volunteering opportunities to online, says Jamie Knoblauch, Ireland Giving Network Lead, VMware

t VMware Ireland, our goal

Ais to create a workplace where people can choose to engage with a range of events, programmes and activities which cater to all employees’ needs and we encourage them to avail of what they need when they need it.

In early 2020 VMware Ireland realised the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were going to be longterm, and much more than physical resources would be needed to sustain the productivity and wellbeing of our employees. We transitioned from a primary focus on Productivity, Engagement and Communication to a new holistic approach that not only supported our employees’ work experience but also the overall wellbeing of them and their families.

VIRTUAL WORKPLACE Our campus groups came together with global and local leadership to adapt the project we initiated in 2020 to meet the needs of the ever-changing landscape and develop a renewed focus on Engagement, Wellbeing and Belonging.

The aim of this project was to employ a sense of belonging now that our workforce had moved to a virtual set up with working from home. We were aware from last year that the move to work from home had left some employees feeling isolated. We felt it was critical that we fostered a family feeling and that we include each employee’s household.

This initiative was aimed at everyone and was contributed to from all angles of the company. From Headquarters in Palo

VMWARE

Alto, our executive company leadership amended policies and introduced new measures to assist people financially and with additional leave. Employees were encouraged to upskill and develop both personally and professionally from the comfort of their own homes with the rollout of a catalogue of courses paid for by VMware.

The events calendar that was produced helped to grow and nurture our VMware Ireland family. VMware recognised every individual’s needs, capacity and personal circumstances were different, therefore every element of options available were on a voluntary basis. This opt in/opt out option gave the employees the option to create their own wellness plan and social engagement suiting their own individual needs and interests. Since the inception of the project, we have been really encouraged by the level of engagement we have seen, notably over 76% of our 1,000 colleagues in Ireland have attended multiple virtual events.

VIRTUAL VOLUNTEERING As always at VMware we live to our EPIC Values and embrace Citizen Philanthropy. When the pandemic reached our shores, we were at our peak of in-person volunteering, with different opportunities scheduled five days a week, every week. This unfortunately has been paused since March 2020, after we quickly identified that COVID-19 would have a lasting impact on the way we traditionally gave to the community. However, we resolved to ensure our colleagues were enabled to continue making positive impacts to the community.

The power of choice is key. Through a campus survey, we identified our colleagues’ passion to help the community in meaningful ways from home in a flexible and safe manner. Choice and diversity of opportunities were still identified as key requirements for people interested in being involved. The Campus groups which are all employee-led were critical to this initiative in making the sense of Alicia joined Dunshaughlin Tidy Towns as a way to help her local community Ruairi from Cork spent his 40 hours volunteering with Irish Search Dogs

VMware Ireland Celebrated pride by hosting a series of events, one including Sergeant Richard Muldarry

Valentin used his hours to volunteer with Animal Care Society Cork, helping in their mission to provide Animal oxygen masks to local fi re services

belonging come alive. Our goals were derived from the need to think outside the box and serve our non-profits and our colleagues in this new landscape.

Our virtual volunteering initiatives included moving our existing Age Action and Coder Dojo programmes online; running a virtual coding workshop with TeenTurn in association with Dell; partnering with the Cork College of Commerce to assist students and teachers with remote learning and holding CV and Interview prep workshops.

FORGING RELATIONSHIPS Embracing our Citizen philanthropy approach has enabled us to forge stronger and more effective relationships with the charities that our colleagues most frequently volunteer with and contribute towards. These stronger relationships have helped us to unearth even more ways in which we and our colleagues can make sustainable positive impacts to the community.

Through these closer collaborations with our charity partners, we also have a greater visibility of the impact we are making to the community. For example, we know since the onset of the pandemic our volunteers have helped over 30 older people stay connected by working with Age Action, and through our Coder Dojo and other mentoring programmes we have helped make technology an accessible career choice for over 300 students from many different backgrounds.

Acknowledging that everyone’s workday now faces new challenges and the line between work and home life has blurred, we started promoting micro-volunteering as a way for VMware people to make their positive impact to the community in a way that suits their new work life balance.

Having a workforce that feel empowered and trusted to give to the community in a personally meaningful way is so important as it really increases motivation, morale, and productivity. Many of our initiatives at VMware are designed for staff by staff, with committees who work primarily in other areas of the business and volunteer their time to make it as easy as possible for our co-workers to get involved, stay connected and feel empowered!