Inspiring over 120,000 global employees to volunteer locally

CHALLENGE
Inspiring employees to volunteer and make a difference in their local communities is key to DHL Express. However, with 120,000 global employees, volunteering initiatives were becoming disjointed, and colleagues weren’t always aware of the initiatives taking place. With volunteering being a key pillar in DHL Express’s purpose strategy, DHL wanted to foster a greater employee-led volunteering culture and centralise all initiatives, inspiring employees to improve lives in their communities.

OBJECTIVES
- Centralise all volunteering initiatives under one umbrella, making individual contributions visible and measurable.
- Support employees to share their volunteering stories, discover opportunities in their local areas, and overcome barriers to volunteering.

STRATEGY
The introduction of a new volunteering umbrella, #VolunteersAtExpress, created an opportunity to launch a global approach to volunteering and inspire employees to make a difference together. The campaign needed an employee-led approach, working on a global scale and engaging diverse cultures with varying attitudes toward volunteering. The solution? Communicating that EveryOne counts—one minute, one hour, one person—it all adds up to make a difference.

IMPLEMENTATION
The campaign aimed to help employees overcome barriers to volunteering, promote the new Volunteers at Express app, and provide colleagues with a platform to share their experiences and projects. The creative approach of using a film strip to show images of local employees volunteering allowed employee-generated imagery to take center stage, cementing the employee-led approach to the campaign. The campaign materials included posters, social media posts, quizzes, polls, ideas to build engagement, email headers, digital screens, and editable social media templates. The toolkit was shared in 10 languages.

RESULTS
EveryONE served as a source of inspiration for DHL Express colleagues worldwide, encouraging them to make meaningful contributions within their communities. Within the initial two months of the campaign, participants collectively logged 4,100 volunteering hours, showcasing their commitment to making a difference. By the end of 2023, this had grown to an impressive 76,866 hours. Notably, the DHL Express Japan team utilized the campaign to reinvigorate their volunteering initiatives, involving the country CEO, and going on to win DHL Express 'CEO Award' in the Sustainability category.