Team-builder offers helping hand

By VICKI JAYNE

A bright clown face grinning from a wall of the Disabled Citizens sheltered workshop in Dominion Rd is cheerful evidence that it's possible to juggle work with community needs - and benefit both.

The clown, with two other wall murals, one a star-studded strip of movie film and the other with a jazzy dance theme, are the outcome of a team challenge for employees at Auckland's Klein Healthcare Designers.

All 14 of them - from managing director to junior support staff - swapped usual workday tools for paintbrushes and closed their inner Auckland office on two consecutive Fridays last month to take part in what was this country's first formal Employee Community Involvement (ECI) programme.

Increasingly popular in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, such programmes aim to forge closer links between business and community groups. Companies give employees the option to take paid time off to do work in the community on an individual or team basis.

But it's not one-way.

"The great thing about ECI is that it isn't a purely philanthropic gesture for business; there's a whole heap of HR [human resource] benefits that come out of it," says Ian Leader, director of ECI for payroll-giving charity United Way.

It is, he says, a fantastic and meaningful way to develop company teams and individual skills, build on the company image and increase brand loyalty while actively helping to build a better community.

He took on the task of setting up local ECI projects for United Way three months ago, and sees it as a natural extension of links the 28-year-old charity has already forged between business and community through its payroll donation schemes.

With more than 100 community groups on its books, there is no shortage of potential projects, says Leader - from tree planting to tram restoration.

A big part of his role is ensuring a particular project is aligned to company culture and business goals.

And Klein Healthcare Designers were clear about what they wanted.

"A team-building exercise that was people-related," says managing director James Klein.

"It is important for us to do a team-building exercise of some kind on an annual basis. Usually that has involved going down to the mountain for a couple of days and doing set exercises.

"Well, after a couple of years we came away from that thinking, yes, it's great, but a bit self-indulgent. We figured we needed more out of it, and doing some voluntary work really appealed."

Good teamwork is a must at Klein. An architectural company specialising in hospital design, it employs architects, interior designers, a nurse, technical workers and support staff.

"If we are not communicating well as a team, we soon know it because our projects start falling apart," says Klein.

"They reckon that in any hospital design project, something like two million decisions have to be made: that is a lot of communicating.

"And we find that we talk a lot more together as a group when we also get together for events outside work."

Team-building occasions are deliberately structured into the company's work routine. It has an open-plan environment, encourages communal morning teas or lunches, and organises regular group outings.

"We come together for work every day and I think it's important we like and understand one another," says Klein.

This particular team event was also designed to provide a skill stretch for the company's most junior staff member, who managed the whole project, from coordinating the design and colour scheme to organising all materials and on-site work.

Workshop supervisor and social worker Marie Murphy says these efforts have had an instant payoff for the disabled workers who work on a range of packing contracts at the site.

"We wanted to create a more stimulating environment for them and that's really worked. They just love the murals."

The whole exercise was also a buzz for the Klein team.

"We got a lot out of it because we felt we'd actually done something really worthwhile for a community group," says Klein.

"Also, it was quite an artistic effort, so it gave us a chance to use our skills and talents and was very rewarding from that viewpoint."

The company is keen to tackle similar projects through United Way, perhaps six monthly.

It is also planning to give each individual staff member one day a year to do voluntary work for an organisation of their choice.

That adds up to 45 days a year which, properly managed, shouldn't detract from the company's revenue, says Klein.

Leader says ECI programmes range from team challenges to "development assignments" designed to enhance or revitalise an individual's skills.

These are tailored to best meet the needs of employer, employee and community agency.

Another recent ECI project involved staff from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

Its Student Support Services work team spent a morning planting trees along a 10km walkway being developed to link the Manukau Harbour with Totara Park.

It was a bit of a test run that will hopefully lead to other ECI initiatives, says student career counsellor and employment co-ordinator Debbie Mallory.

"There are options for team building and also for staff members to go out and visit various community agencies."

United Way's payroll donation scheme enables AUT staff to donate to a charity of their choice, and in return students can gain work experience through those agencies, says Mallory.

Such schemes not only fit with AUT values but are a good investment for students.

"A lot of employers are now embracing social responsibility and like to employ people who have shown they are prepared to give back to the community in some way."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz