Avoiding office ‘charity day’ clangers

Thursday February 2, 2017

With Red Nose Day on the horizon many offices around the UK are gearing up for a whole day of putting the ‘fun’ into fundraising. Charity activities in the workplace can be great for staff interaction and engagement as well as raising cash for a good cause.

But office fundraisers do need thinking through. If everyone is on a sponsored silence who will answer the phones? If you have a big, important meeting that day, is it really a great idea to have your reception staff dressed as clowns?

Not everyone has the same idea of what is fun or funny. Make sure you know what activities are taking place in case anything inappropriate has been planned. As an employer, having an overview of what is going on is also important to make sure there is something for everyone and no one feels excluded. We are sure that most bosses will try to avoid being like David Brent in The Office.

As ever, Health and Safety needs to be considered: food allergies, costumes, sporting activities can all carry risk.

These are our top three workplace fundraising activities:

  1. Donate a day’s pay: Workplace Giving UK have a great site which can arrange this directly from employees’ pay-packets, so no extra hassle or work for you!
  2. The Great Office Bake Off: because who doesn’t love an excuse to eat cake in the office? (just be aware of food hygiene and allergies)
  3. Dress in Red Day: particularly great if your brand/logo is also red, and not as full on as fancy dress for your office introverts.

Share with us how you will be taking part in Red Nose Day in your office. We would love to post your pictures and stories on Friday to show how SMEs are getting involved.

If you have any queries about charitable office activities or are suffering from a fundraising hangover, just give The HR Dept a call.

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