While the desire to create an engagement policy is strong in many organizations, one question often remains unanswered: How to define its contours ?

Indeed, to launch a team mobilization process, it is necessary to create a framework conducive to its success. This includes the prioritization of action themes, the structuring of associative partnerships or the establishment of days dedicated to commitment.

This article helps you formalize an engagement policy that is both ambitious, structured and impactful, around 3 key levers:

1. Define priority engagement themes
2. Identify concrete actions and key partnerships
3. And finally, establish commitment days at work

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Define priority engagement themes

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The various thematic causes of commitment

There are a multitude of causes or themes of engagement, as well as several ways to categorize them. But some are references, such as the themes that make up the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the UN.

Namely: These goals combine the 17 global priorities, to be achieved by 2030, in order to “achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”

1. No poverty
2. Zero hunger
3. Good health and well-being
4. Quality education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean water and sanitation
7. Affordable and clean energy
8. Decent work and economic growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced inequalities
11. Sustainable cities and communities
12. Responsible production and consumption
13. Measures related to the fight against global warming
14. Aquatic life
15. Terrestrial life
16. Peace, Justice, and Effective Institutions
17. Partnerships for the achievement of the goals

At Komeet, to simplify engagement as much as possible, we have chosen to group the themes into 14 main categories that are easy to understand by all in order to take action

1. Arts, culture and heritage : access to culture for all, inclusive sport, media...

2. Consumption and food : awareness-raising about vegetarianism or permaculture, solidarity cooking workshops, food collections...

3. Education and equal opportunities : mentoring or sponsoring young people in difficulty, homework help, job presentation, hosting 3rd year internships...

4. Gender equality: fight against sexist and sexual violence, actions around mixed professions, awareness-raising on gender issues...

5. Employment and professional integration: coaching to prepare for the job interview, workshop to help create a resume, training on specific skills...

6. Entrepreneurship and business creation: coaching and mentoring entrepreneurs, ideation workshops, development of specific skills...

7. Environment and biodiversity: climate frescoes, waste collection, urban agriculture workshop...

8. Disability: awareness-raising on disabilities, support for ESATs, mentoring people with disabilities...

9. Social and intergenerational link: creating links with isolated elderly people, fun or creative workshops in the neighborhood, activities with young people...

10. Combating discrimination: raising awareness about various forms of discrimination, mentoring or sponsoring discriminated persons, support for refugees...

11. Poverty and precariousness: marauding, food distribution, product collections for disadvantaged populations...

12 Animal protection : solidarity days in animal shelters, support for the adoption of abandoned animals...

13. Health: blood donation, solidarity races, cancer awareness...

14. International solidarity: collection of materials in support of populations in countries at war, awareness-raising actions or advocacy for a dignified welcome...

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Our advice for identifying priority areas of engagement

To define an effective engagement policy, it is necessary to select the most priority causes for your business. Their number may vary according to your challenges, but it is advisable to start with a limited number of priority themes, before expanding if desired.

For example, start by identifying 2 priority causes and if your approach works well after 2 years, add 2 additional causes. But then, how do you choose and prioritize among dozens of themes that all seem urgent and important? Several levers can help you:

• Based on priority themes of your CSR strategy;
• Conduct a survey with your employees to find out their areas of interest;
• Rely on the news (world days, national operations, geopolitical situation...)

Talk to a CSR expert

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Identify priority actions or key associative partnerships

Once your priority themes are defined, it is now time to move on to the second step in structuring your engagement policy: the establishment of priority actions or key associative partnerships. To help you better identify the various possibilities, here are some examples of partnerships or priority actions:

• Program to participate in a Mural

It is an increasingly common practice in business: define a program for organizing and participating in certain Frescoes (Climate fresco, Biodiversity fresco, Digital fresco...). For example, the objective of such a program may be to achieve in 5 years to have 75% of employees who participated in a Fresque. To do this, it is possible to organize frescoes on a regular basis (every quarter for example) or to organize frescoes progressively in each team or to integrate them into the onboarding of new employees.
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• Mentoring program

In partnership with a specialized association, it is possible to create a mentoring program in your company. Concretely, this program can for example allow 50 employees, each year, toMentoring a young person in trouble. In particular, the company may decide to devote time to mentors to allow them to follow young people or even to provide workspaces or to organize activities with the mentees.
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• Recurring donation of equipment

In the same way, it is possible to set up a partnership with an association to regularly offer it unused equipment. This can be unsold inventory, computer equipment that is no longer used, clothing... The possibilities are endless and each company, depending on its challenges and needs, can create the partnerships or programs that suit it.

ELECTRO DEPOT, for example, set up the program “At each deposit, its partner” so that each store can develop its local impact.

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Set up commitment days at work

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What is a commitment day at work?

The establishment of days of commitment to work is an essential lever for framing a structured engagement policy. Because to enable employees to mobilize, they need time!

The principle is simple: paid time, given to employees so that they can raise awareness and act on their working time around social and environmental issues. Solidarity credit, solidarity time credit, solidarity days, solidarity RTT, days Pro Bono... numerous names can refer to this device. But regardless of the format chosen, it comes down to Give your employees time so they can get involved.

On average, according to 2024 CSR barometer, companies that implement a policy of commitment days grant 3 days per year to their employees. However, most of them offer one day of commitment per year.

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How can we use these commitment days at work?

As part of the commitment days, many actions taken can be carried out during working time. They can be divided into several categories: helping an association, providing expertise and raising awareness. Here is a non-exhaustive list of actions that can be carried out during working time:

• Field boost

These are “in the field” missions to help associations on an ad hoc basis. They can be organized internally by the companies themselves.

For example: taking 3 hours to distribute meals to people in need, 1 hour to donate blood or even half a day to coordinate a product drive at the office.
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• Skill missions

These missions call on the skills of employees to help associations or their beneficiaries. Their duration varies from a few hours to several months.

For example: helping to redesign an association's website, giving a course on the basics of its job to people in retraining or even supporting the legal structuring of an association.
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• Awareness raising

Commitment also means learning about social and environmental issues. There are a multitude of ways to become aware of your working time.

For example: participate in a workshop (Climate Fresco, 2-ton Workshop, Diversity Fresco...), to conferences, webinars or even to awareness-raising challenges or challenges such as My Little Planet, etc...

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The 8 steps to frame and launch an employee engagement policy

To allow you to leave with concrete axes to frame your engagement policy, here are 7 key steps to get started:

1. Survey your employees on their desire for commitment in order to better understand what drives and motivates them (causes, associations, types of commitment...)
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2. Define your priority engagement themes taking into account the opinion of your teams, the core activity of your company, its CSR priorities and the SDGs.
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3. Choose your priority actions and set up possible associative partnerships.
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4. Set up commitment days at work and set the conditions of eligibility for this system (seniority, teams, etc.).
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5. Informing and involving managers : these are the main relays in your commitment process in the field.
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6. Communicate widely with the teams on this device at its launch, then regularly at key moments and/or at the onboarding of new employees.
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7. Regularly animate your engagement process by organizing CSR highlights, by setting up a community of ambassadors or by establishing regular communications internally and externally.
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8. Use an engagement platform to facilitate your entire process and increase the mobilization of your teams. Our experts are at your disposal to help you audit your current commitment and define your next steps.

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