An effort to promote community service within its national workforce was recently recognized when MidCountry Bank‘s military banking division, Pioneer Services, was named a finalist for the Corporate Social Responsibility Award for Workplace Innovation by PR News. The company received the honor for creating and offering all of its associates a Volunteer Time-Off (VTO) benefit, providing each individual up to 16 hours of paid time off annually to volunteer in their communities.

To encourage additional participation in the VTO program, last year the company initiated the Be the Difference campaign, an internal effort to increase usage of this unique benefit. The campaign included a Volunteer Fair at its headquarters that featured 23 nonprofit organizations, the creation of a new volunteerism website, t-shirts, promotional posters, and other items—all of which was led by an associate-ran Volunteer Committee. The result was a 400 percent increase in VTO usage, and numerous individual recognition and awards for associates, both locally and nationally.

“Giving back to the community is a key component of our corporate culture,” said Karen Von Der Bruegge , chief marketing officer of Pioneer Services. “We are proud to receive recognition for our social responsibility efforts, but must also recognize our associates around the country. Their efforts and willingness to give back have made the VTO program a great success.”

Winners of the PR News Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards are announced Feb. 24, 2010, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC . Pioneer Services is joined as a finalist in the Workplace Innovation category by Pepsi, Deloitte, and Butterball, and finalists in other categories include Bank of America, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Coca Cola, GE, Oracle, and eBay.

Via EPR Network
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