Xylem, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Xylem Inc. is a leading water technology company with operations in more than 150 countries. Xylem Watermark, Xylem’s global corporate citizenship program, is dedicated to providing and protecting safe water resources for communities in need around the world and educating people about important water issues.

CHALLENGE

In 2016, Xylem shifted the focus of Xylem Watermark from a platform strictly focused on philanthropic partnerships to a more formalized employee engagement program with core business goals around increasing knowledge and awareness of its citizenship efforts, and strengthening brand reputation in the community, and increased employee volunteerism.

SOLUTION

To build a culture of engagement across the diverse global company and ensure participation, Changing Our World has implemented a number of tactics that include developing a formal internal leadership structure comprised of a cohort of Ambassadors and Champions with clear roles and responsibilities; launching two company-wide service months throughout the year; engaging sites across the world to participate in volunteer events; tailoring the engagement approach to address the unique strengths and challenges of different business units, regions, and cultures; enhancing internal and external communications about Xylem Watermark and aligning to Xylem’s core business values; leveraging global nonprofit partners to maximize impact, while also connecting colleagues to the mission of each organization; and leveraging a customer engagement program, a key tactic for a sales-focused workforce.

After 18 months of implementing a formal employee engagement program, successes to date include:

-Xylem Watermark won the Gold Halo Award for Best Employee Engagement Campaign in 2017.
-Exceeded year-one goal of logging 21,000 employee volunteer hours.
-More than 450 volunteer activities were registered on MyWatermark.com.
-85% of employees are familiar with Xylem Watermark; 84% are proud to work at Xylem as a result of Xylem Watermark and its volunteer efforts.
-Employees raised more than $115,000 to support Xylem Watermark’s six global nonprofit partners, a 69% increase over 2015.