A second year of community volunteering opportunities is on offer to Amazon Filters team members through CMPP, the Community Matters Partnership Project.
It follows agreement on a 12-month extension to our business partnership after the success of five hands-on action days with the Surrey-based charity during 2022.
We have helped improve the playground at Sandringham Infant School, provided gardening services at Reg’s Garden in Farnborough, done general maintenance at Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, cleaned the beach at Littlehampton and cleared away leaves at Frimhurst Family House.
Our input equates to 47 volunteer days overall with each participant receiving two days’ pay for their time.
“It’s such a brilliant initiative,” said Ruth Pappadakis, our Head of Human Resources. “The engagement levels have gone beyond my initial expectations. It helped that one of our directors was on the first volunteering day at Reg’s Garden. That clearly set the tone!”
Ruth believes that many of the benefits enjoyed as a CMPP partner would have been impossible to measure at the start.
“They are about how people feel about themselves and their relationships with colleagues and their employer,” she said.
“One newly appointed member of staff even mentioned the volunteering programme as a key reason influencing their decision to apply for a job with us.”
Like many employers who faced the challenges of the pandemc, Amazon Filters has continued to embrace a hybrid working model.
For Ruth as an HR professional, one of the joys of the CMPP tie-up is the opportunity to bring colleagues together who have been spending more time apart.
“Taking part in community volunteering supports individual and team wellbeing, workplace values and company culture,” she said.
One team member who splits her time between home and office is Marketing Executive Julie Hoad.
She spent one of her 2022 volunteering days, alongside 14 colleagues, painting at Sandringham School.
Julie said: “I knew about a third of my co-workers on the day. With brush-in-hand I painted but also chatted to the person next to me. We didn’t talk about work. Instead, we bonded over this shared experience and what it meant to us. I feel I know her really well now because of the extended time doing a non-work task. And we still talk about that day whenever we meet. The benefits of volunteering definitely include the interpersonal aspect.”
On the activities themselves, Julie said: “They are all highly practical and focused on doing stuff. Whether that’s painting, cleaning or gardening, all the activities are highly valued by the beneficiaries.”
Reflecting on the success of the CMPP partnership so far, Ruth added: “Our first year with the charity has helped us ‘bed in’ and familiarise ourselves with all that is involved in community volunteering.
“Having renewed the partnership after our first anniversary, we will be working with Tracy Jarvis, the CMPP Chief Executive, to agree more action days for our team in 2023.
“Once again, the opportunities will be available to colleagues in all job roles, both factory and office-based, who are keen to give something back to the community.”
