I’ve always been inspired by a simple quote from a very simple man. “He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.” This has been something that I have seen come to fruition in my own personal life, but I’ve been fortunate to see the same thing happen in my corporate life as well.

Last year, MarketStar – my current company – made a strategic decision to make a renewed commitment to our four pillars (spirituality, family, career, community) – the foundation of our company that encourages all of us to seek balance in life. Our goal was to reinvigorate our culture and kick-start the rejuvenation of our company. So we started with the community pillar, which meant it was time to serve our community. It was a real-time examination of the value of corporate citizenship.

We started off this rejuvenation with a simple food drive – we called it Pack the Pantry. The Pack the Pantry program encouraged employees to donate non-perishable food items to stock the food pantry at a local Jr. High school. The school that benefitted from this program has a large population of at-risk students. Many students go home on weekends with no food, so the food pantry would be set up to provide take-home meals for students to last them through the weekend.

Marketstar responded by collecting 23,000 separate food items. What started out as a challenge to help one school, turned into THREE schools. To say we surpassed our expectations is a massive understatement! We helped A LOT of kids go home with meals ready-to-eat, and it led to MarketStar being chosen as the Secondary Partner of Year for the Ogden City School District in 2015. Truly a win-win!

As we watched our teams work together and serve our community, we acted quickly and turned our little food drive into a new corporate initiative. The “MarketStar Cares” program was the result. This initiative puts employees and resources into action to positively impact the communities in which families of MarketStar live, work, and play. The program supports causes, like Pack the Pantry, that embody MarketStar’s four pillars.

For 2016, we knew we had set the bar pretty high, but it’s wonderful to report that we smashed the 2015 numbers with more than 36,000 separate items – a 56% increase! We were able to pack the pantries of FIVE Jr. High Schools, and send a truckload of food to our local homeless shelter. That’s a remarkable level of service, but how did our venture into corporate citizenship benefit the business-side of our business?

We started to see the most immediate results in the attitudes of our employees. According to our latest Employee Engagement Survey, over 86% of our employees are categorized as Champions compared to only 56% the previous year. These results coincide with the strategic decision to reinvigorate our culture – with community outreach at the helm.

We also saw significant improvements in three key “morale” metrics.

  • I intend to stay with my company for at least another 12 months. (81%, up from 74% the previous year)
  • I would recommend my company as a great place to work. (84%, up from 77%)
  • My company has a strong culture. (80%, up from 73%)

In our world of “Sales as a Service,” happy and engaged employees lead to lower attrition and higher levels of production for our clients. When you begin to look at these tangible results, you start to understand why it is becoming more relevant and increasingly necessary for business success.

Recently, Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship at its Carroll School of Management released an excellent selection of statistics detailing the current trends in corporate citizenship. In addition to gathering fascinating data on the beliefs of corporate executives, the Center for Corporate Citizenship also included some hard evidence of the benefits corporate citizenship.

According to the Center, companies with corporate citizenship are more likely to reach key business objectives.

  • Similarly, as compared to average business performance, companies with integrated corporate citizenship are 2.3 times as likely to retain employees.
  • As compared to average business performance, companies with integrated corporate citizenship are 2.2 times as likely to have access to new markets.

Our jobs are to satisfy the needs of clients and drive revenue for them, but our purpose is to be more than just sales people – for ourselves, to our families, and in our communities. We are giving to our community, but we are benefitting from doing the right thing – in our hearts and on the bottom line.

I began my career running a community relation program for a hockey team. I used to marvel at the impact we had when we spoke to a group of troubled youth, or hosted disadvantaged kids at a game, or just visited with families who had a child staying at a hospital. We brought a lot of light to those people, and they, in turn, lit up our entire franchise. With MarketStar, it’s no different. We benefit those we serve, but we are seeing the benefits in the eyes – and performance – of our employees, just as much or more.

I can show you 36,000 pieces of proof.