The success of businesses and organizations rests on a foundation of employees, clients and external stakeholders.
But how can you maximize the benefits of such a diverse group of individuals?
Creating a corporate community program is an excellent way to build networks and relationships that benefit all parties, improving engagement, driving brand advocacy, and streamlining talent acquisition.
One facet of a corporate community is alumni – former employees of a business or organization. A purpose-built platform like EnterpriseAlumni offers extensive engagement features, real-time metrics and functionality across all devices to help you re-engage these former employees in a way that contributes to your corporate community.
In this article, we discuss the 10 reasons why corporate communities contribute to long-term organizational success and growth. We also share how EnterpriseAlumni can help you develop a thriving alumni network as part of this community.
A corporate community may include people associated with the business beyond its current employees. It could consist of former employees, other stakeholders, clients, partners, and even suppliers.
The point of developing this network is to build community relationships between these individuals and encourage them to engage. When done well, an organization can utilize this community engagement and reap many benefits.
Here are 10 reasons why corporate communities matter.
Employees can be unsatisfied at work for many reasons. They could be unhappy with their role, feel undervalued, or struggle to build relationships with colleagues and management. These employees often become disengaged, which leads to decreased productivity.
Corporate community involvement is a great way to make employees feel part of the company and its mission. Being in a community group offers employees support, space to voice themselves, and opportunities to network with colleagues, partners, and clients outside the organization.
Building a corporate community program also allows the company to involve employees. This could be through initiatives like sustainability drives or holding events and competitions, which can drive employee engagement and improve business productivity. According to Gallup, employee productivity increases 18% when employees are engaged at work.
When employees work at a business or organization—especially for a significant period of time—they develop extensive knowledge of their role, the company structure and the industry. Should these employees leave for another position or retirement, this knowledge and experience will go with them.
As a business that has invested resources into developing those skills, that can be a painful loss.
That's why it’s important to develop an alumni network as part of your corporate community strategy.
Through alumni platforms, you can offer mentorship programs, where more experienced community members give advice and guidance to newer members. You can also re-engage former employees as trainers or coaches, and they can share their expertise through group workshops or webinars.
Every employee wants to feel valued, heard and part of the business. When they don't, many will look elsewhere. Many things can improve employee retention. The ability to develop relationships, work with more open and transparent leadership, and be part of a great company culture all improve job satisfaction, which increases retention.
Corporate communities are a great way to create this for employees, since they allow employees to connect, communicate with leadership and access perks. They can also offer access to mental health resources, physical well-being and financial advice.
By giving workers the tools they need to succeed at their jobs and by showing them you care about them as an employer, you can reduce their likelihood of considering their employment options.
One advantage of building a corporate community is the ability to offer professional development. Whether the member is currently part of your company or has moved on, providing support wherever they are on their journey shows you value their career and success.
Through a corporate community program, you can provide:
Professional development is another area where an alumni network thrives. For example, EnterpriseAlumni offers a tool called CareerRoadmap, which provides a personalized career advice tailored to a member's skills, experiences, and aspirations to help them find their next job.
Brand advocacy can go a long way in a competitive job market. It helps you secure the best talent and retain current employees. Building brand loyalty starts with how you treat your employees when they work for you and when they leave you.
A corporate community should provide;
Brand loyalty can extend to former employees or leadership figures. You can invite them to be guest speakers at these events, ask them to lead training sessions or hold webinars. A business could also run collaborative alumni projects and initiatives.
By offering continued access to tools, education and benefits, an organization shows it cares about its employees, even after they leave the workplace. This increases the chances that current and former employees will speak highly of your organization and recommend it to others.
Innovation is necessary for businesses to continue growing. A corporate community can help drive idea-sharing and problem-solving.
Your community will contain former employees, management, clients, and others who have extensive skills and knowledge of your processes and the challenges at hand. By initiating a program, these members will have a space to share ideas, opinions and practical solutions to any challenges a business faces.
The mix of members can also lead to new projects or collaborations. It also allows other departments—which are typically disconnected from each other—to come together to ideate.
Many organizations suffer from a fractured chain of command or silos between departments. This can have a negative impact on productivity, operations and employee morale.
Team building is a significant driver of business success. Implementing a corporate community helps to build a stronger partnership between departments. Having a program opens a communication channel between leadership and department heads, which can encourage employees to engage through chat, calls or video meetings.
When your departments work towards the same goals and can use a corporate community program to stay in sync, the organization reaps the rewards of improved productivity, innovation and morale.
Crises can happen anytime – how prepared a business is will determine how it handles the situation. Think back to the recent COVID pandemic. Business practices and processes were flipped upside down, leaving management and employees scrambling to figure out how to keep things running.
A corporate community can be a vital asset to business operations during times of crisis. With all your employees in a single network, it's easier to communicate with team members, offer support, share key resources and documents and hold live chats and calls. If your community contains clients and external stakeholders, it streamlines the communication channels and makes it easier to share updates.
Community-building can deliver many benefits to an organization. Yet the impact can reach beyond professional realms and into the wider community.
Through your program, you could launch social responsibility initiatives—sustainability, economic responsibility or diversity and inclusion—through volunteering activities or engagement with the local community.
Working on issues that can have a positive impact beyond an organization's walls can foster a sense of pride and unity among corporate community members, which can feed into brand loyalty, advocacy, and talent acquisition.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the things former employees miss most when they leave. By developing an alumni network within your corporate community, you can reengage them in a meaningful way, allowing them to participate in volunteering, pro bono and public service initiatives.
Finding the right talent involves job postings, screenings, rounds of interviews and extensive training.
Building an alumni network offers a resource that can be tapped for candidates when job positions become available.
Your company can post a job opening on the platform, and members can recommend individuals or former employees – who likely have most of the skills and in-depth knowledge of your company's values and processes – to apply or themselves reapply to work for you.
With research showing that 28% of rehires are corporate alumni returning to work for a former employer – known as a boomerang employee – an Alumni network can play a significant role in the acquisition process.
With EnterpriseAlumni, hiring doesn't have to be complicated. You can access automated workflows, the ability to customize job listings to specific alumni, and our exclusive LinkedIn Profile Preview (LPP) that provides the most up-to-date info on individuals.
As we’ve discussed, alumni are a vital part of a corporate community.
The most effective way to create a platform of alumni that delivers impact is to use dedicated alumni management software like EnterpriseAlumni.
Our platform offers many standout features, including:
Corporate community building is no fad. Creating a group of employees, leadership, clients and external stakeholders can open up your organization to various benefits.
A thriving corporate community can;
A huge part of this community is alumni. With a dedicated solution like EnterpriseAlumni, you have all the tools you need to build a thriving alumni community.
You can also stay informed with our blog, which offers insights on building a successful corporate alumni.