Charter One believes its success doesn’t lie with its commitment to customers and the community, but it believes it lies with its employees’ embracement of their cultural credo.
Over the years, community service has become a fundamental element of Charter One employees’ personal and professional development, including that of Ken Marblestone, president of Charter One’s Ohio region. Just look at the facts. In 2008, Ohio employees of the financial institution volunteered more than 16,000 hours to community efforts, including distributing food at local hunger centers and painting and cleaning up local neighborhoods.
While the bank acknowledges employees’ efforts, it also encourages them through three incentive programs.
Many companies would applaud employees for taking time out of their day to volunteer but how about three months? Charter One’s Community Service Sabbatical Program offers one employee each year a three-month paid leave to work at a nonprofit organization. Charter One launched the program in 2006 hoping employees would bring back a greater appreciation of the social needs and challenges in the community.
The bank also tries to emphasize that if employees do their part to better the community, the company will, too. Through the Give As You Earn program and Community Cashback, Charter One donates money on top of employees’ financial and volunteer efforts.
With Give As You Earn, Charter One encourages employees to contribute $1,000 a year to a nonprofit organization. Employees’ donations will then be double-matched by Charter One. And through the Community Cashback program, Charter One will provide a $250 gift to a nonprofit organization an employee has volunteered 50 or more hours of time to during the year.
The bank’s service philosophy is led from the top down, which was seen clearly by its commitment to Northeast Ohio and greater Ohio in 2008. Last year, Charter One provided grant funding to more than 150 nonprofit organizations in Ohio and donated more than $30 million nationally. The company also organizes nearly 100 volunteer opportunities for employees each year.
Many of the opportunities are linked directly to Charter One’s programs, such as Tools for School, Carving Out Hunger and Champions in Action, the latter of which spotlights the region’s unsung heroes and quarterly provides a nonprofit organization $25,000 along with promotional support and volunteers.
How to reach: Charter One, (216) 566-5300 or www.charterone.com