Many companies take pride only in increased market share, but Afrox Oxygen Limited (Afrox) rates highly its achievements in improving staff relations and loyalty through its Community Involvement Programme (CIP).
The company spent R1,5-million on the CIP last year, an estimated 0,38% of its annual net profit. The amount excludes contributions to other causes and sponsorships.
The CIP, which is built entirely around employee participation, was launched nine years ago. Initially it was not a hit with Afrox employees.
They were reluctant to volunteer for CIP projects as they did not see any personal benefits in participating and were afraid to commit them-selves to the unknown, explains Chris Fieldgate, Afrox’s manager of corporate communications and investor relations.
‘But all that has changed over the years and they are now exceptionally committed,” he says.
Take Odette Latiff, who works at Afrox’s customer service centre, for example. She has chosen to help HIV/Aids orphans. She is part of the team that worked with Nkosi’s Haven, a shelter in Johannesburg.
‘Being involved in the CIP means that I can assist in a little way to alleviate the suffering of the orphaned kids in our country,” she says. ‘In most cases they have lost both parents and are disowned by extended families.”
Another employee, Lizette Swanepoel, says she volunteers to work with children for personal satisfaction: ‘I cannot have children of my own and by participating in the CIP programme I can share all the love I have with those who are not fortunate enough to be loved.
‘And who better to love than those children who so desperately need it and are looking for that special feeling most children take for granted?”
Once a year, traditionally on the first Saturday of September, Afrox staff members get together with the community homes they support to celebrate the CIP and to share the relationships they have built and achievements they have accomplished over the year.
This celebration is called Bumbanani Day (bumbanani means ‘build each other” in isiZulu). It usually consists of an outing packed with fun, games and treats for the kids.
The CIP is, however, much more than Bumbanani Day. Employees of Afrox’s business units — including those dealing with gases, welding products and healthcare — enter into an ongoing relationship with the homes they choose to adopt and provide care and support to. These are community childcare institutions such as orphanages and care centres for abused and abandoned children.
The CIP programme is currently involved in 125 projects that benefit about 13 000 children. These include 48 projects in Gauteng, 12 in KwaZulu-Natal, 11 in the Eastern Cape, 10 in the North West, six in Mpumalanga, six in the Free State, three in the Northern Cape and one in Limpopo.
Projects in neighbouring countries focus on HIV/Aids, skills development and education. There are four in Botswana, three in Namibia, two in Zambia and Malawi and a project each in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique and Swaziland.
Each Afrox business unit identifies an institution to support through its CIP committee in collaboration with members and the community. The committee talks to various people in the community, including traditional leaders and councillors.
There are criteria guiding the selection of a new home to support, giving priority to the most needy. Overall the beneficiary institution must be a non-profit organisation with sound financial recording practices and must care for underprivileged children .
The CIP is run and managed by staff with support from Afrox’s management and MD Rick Hogben. Employees decide which projects to support and what activities to undertake.
Each branch of a business unit receives R 3 000 from the company towards their Bumbanani Day celebrations and, if necessary, undertakes additional fund-raising to meet the needs of the day.
Bumbanani activities vary, but usually consist of outings to zoos or recreational parks. The day has become so well known throughout the company that it has become synonymous with the CIP as a whole.
CIP coordinator Renee Selfe says there are several reasons for employees’ enthusiasm about the programme, all of which include an element of personal satisfaction.
‘A genuine sense of satisfaction and personal reward are some of the main reasons for the success of the programme,” she says.
‘The genuine empowerment of staff to own and run with their individual projects, combined with strong sponsorship from our MD, makes a big difference.”
Afrox’s experience is that introducing such a programme helps build employee skills, encourage teamwork and promote loyalty and job satisfaction, as well as helping to attract and retain employees.
The programme also helps a company to establish its brand reputation and strong relations with communities, government leaders and other stakeholder groups.
Perhaps the most important opportunity the CIP is providing is that it gives employees a role in promoting good corporate citizenship.
Afrox employees themselves comment that involvement in the CIP is an eye-opener and a learning experience.
‘Because I care about others, I realise how thankful we must be for what we have and what we can offer to others through that,” says Iole Labuschagne, who works at Afrox’s Welkom branch.
Labuschagne adds that people tend to undervalue their own efforts, seeing them as small and insignificant. ‘No matter how small these contributions are, they make a difference in someone’s life every day,” he says.
One of the outfits Afrox has adopted is the Sparrow Ministries home in Maraisburg.
Sparrows cares for destitute and terminally ill children and adults with HIV/Aids. The Afrox occupational health-care unit has adopted one division of the home, which cares for about 65 children.
Over the past year staff at the Afrox occupational health-care unit have helped to revamp the Sparrow division. The volunteers have also bought medical equipment and donate clothes and food on a monthly basis. This year their plan is to start an ecosystem project, planting a fruit and vegetable garden to help feed the patients, and to install heating systems.
Dolly Bihl, chairperson of the health-care unit’s Gauteng CIP committee, speaks fondly about her company’s relationship with Sparrow Ministries home. ‘Being involved in the project has been an emotional journey,” she says. ‘Dedicating time and getting to know the people from the home has been rewarding.”
Bihl says staff members get a lot of satisfaction out of working with the homes they adopted: ‘I find that there’s a lot to gain, both emotionally and physically,” she adds.