How Can We Inspire Employees to Embrace Our Blood Donation Program? Seeking Your Insights

Hi, I am one of the HR professionals working in Hyderabad for an automobile firm. I take care of training in our company. Recently, I took on a new assignment of conducting corporate social responsibility initiatives in our company. As such initiatives are people-oriented, I am searching for ways and means to make people develop a feeling that they should do something for society because they are making their livelihood out of natural resources available, directly or indirectly.

Planning a Successful Blood Donation Program

We are planning to conduct a blood donation program. Please provide some insights on how to make this program a success and also demonstrate to the management that value addition has been achieved. Please share.

Regards

Spread Awareness About Blood Donation

Spread knowledge about the need for blood for patients and the benefits of donating blood. Government advertisements can assist you. You can contact the local government hospital for assistance, and the hospital can help organize a blood donation camp.

Let me first compliment you and your management for initiating this CSR drive and for planning a blood donation drive. Blood donation drives are gaining in popularity mainly because they have visibility, there is a clear identifiable contribution by each person who donates blood, the cause is very noble, and in many ways, it is perceived as relatively easy to execute.

However, this initiative has to be done in conjunction with an established hospital or blood bank which can provide the logistic support, which is the key to this drive. You would also have to prepare the volunteers donating blood as there is a fear of the needle in most people, concerns about safety and hygiene, and in some extreme cases, religious sentiments or personal preferences would dissuade a minuscule lot, and they must never be treated with contempt or disdain.

Mass blood donation drives are normally not encouraged, especially on certain dates like 2nd October or 1st May, etc., since storage and preservation of the blood is an issue. Ideally, fresh blood is what is most suitable and desirable, so this first blood donation drive can be used as a curtain raiser for other CSR activities. What you must do though is to prepare a directory of voluntary blood donors who would agree to be contacted should an emergency arise. Their blood group, contact details, and consent are essential information in the database. In my opinion, this database is best kept with the company itself, and HR can tie up with hospitals to facilitate urgent blood donations of rare groups by tapping into this database.

Trust my inputs help organize the blood donation drive efficiently and effectively.

Regards

I think blood donation is a great idea for CSR. You should start a convincing campaign in your office to showcase the importance and need for blood donation. You can utilize presentations, speeches from concerned individuals, emails on the internal network, etc.

Thank you.

As mentioned by others, you need to educate employees on this aspect. It's time to establish a donor database for your company, which would serve many purposes. I would appreciate it if you could take some responsibility to empower some government schools in your local area by providing pencils, stationery, and used textbooks. This initiative would help you build good relations with society.

Dear Franidhar,

Your idea is really appreciable. I agree with one of the participants who mentioned spreading awareness and debunking the myths related to blood donation. People are often frightened by myths like contracting HIV or feeling weak after donating. You could seek insights from organizations like NBTC and NACO, which are actively promoting awareness about blood donation nowadays.

Additionally, you could reach out to NGOs like Rotary Club and Lions Club that organize blood donation camps for corporates. These NGOs already have well-equipped mobile blood donation vans and a team of doctors.

Regards, Swati

Anyone will appreciate such a noble activity, which serves a social cause. In fact, you are contributing to one of the nation's prime requirements. To get a good response and also to take care of your donor employees' health, I understand that a full day or half-day complementary leave is allowed for employee donors. I think this is compulsory. Can anyone confirm this?

Dear Abhay, normally after donation, the Hb% will go down. The donor may feel tiredness. That's the reason after blood donation, the donor is given some biscuits and juice or some fruits. The quality of the blood will become normal after 1.5 days. There are no specific guidelines that the donor needs to be given leave. It is given only on a humanitarian basis. (In defense, if you donate blood, you will get two days of excuse duty, and you can take two days rest on that day).

Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

I appreciate the CSR activities initiated by industries to empower village or rural communities to improve their livelihoods. I would like to make a point here that there are some misconceptions about CSR as merely a charitable activity. Corporate Social Responsibility is an investment by organizations and not just openhanded generosity. In CSR, we must understand the investment being made and the expected results. These results may not always be in revenue terms but can help the organization in revenue generation.

Any activity initiated should not be sporadic but properly planned with guided interventions. It has been observed that unplanned activities create high expectations among the village or rural community and ultimately end in disappointment for both parties. Please plan CSR activities with consequential effects to avoid displeasure.

Thanks,
Mritunjay Nath Sahu
GM (HR)

I am happy to read all suggestions from our colleagues who are participating in the discussion of CSR activities. I would also like to announce Dannyraps1's suggestion, which aims to help poor children and those who are unable to purchase books, bags, pencils, etc.

Thank you very much for your suggestions on CSR activities.

Best regards,
Muralidhar T

If you plan and act, then you can do a lot for the society where your organization is located.

Monetary CSR:

1. Approach a nearby school: Ask the HM/Principal to provide a list of talented poor children, and you can bear the cost of tuition fees/exam fees.

2. You can donate furniture to a rural area school.

3. You can give books, notebooks, school bags, geometry boxes, and other stationery to poor students.

4. You can offer a public toilet to the slum near your organization.

5. You can organize potable drinking water for the nearby area in association with the Municipal/Panchayat Board.

6. You can organize medical check-ups/eye check-ups/diabetic detection camps/dental check-ups for the underprivileged people residing near your organization.

7. You can develop the school with additional buildings or develop a playground for the students.

8. You can approach the nearby Panchayat office, ask for space, and develop a community hall with amenities for playing and recreational activities for the youngsters.

9. You can approach the nearby Panchayat office and plan for the plantation of saplings and start maintaining the same.

10. If the municipal authorities permit you, you can plan for tree plantation in the median of the road, where you can display your company advertisement (Maintained by XXXXX Company).

Non-Monetary CSR:

1. You can send some staff regularly (weekly once or twice) to a nearby school and teach spoken English/additional languages to the students.

2. You can arrange for a blood donation camp.

3. You can spare some staff for teaching the children of the nearby school with games/sports.

Plan according to your budget and act accordingly.

Wish you all the best, Murali.