Firms that carefully design effective community projects for their employees can uncover new leaders, improve employee engagement, and even boost the bottom line. But crucial elements are required to ensure success.

Vik Hill, the managing director of Santander Consumer Finance UK (SCUK) in London, got a shock when he pored over his annual staff survey in 2008. Having been in business in the UK since 2005, SCUK was successfully meeting its profit forecasts every month, and Hill was in a celebratory mood. He was therefore surprised with the consistent message in his staff feedback forms: “Despite our success, we’re doing nothing to give back to our local communities.”

Hill went to work to find a solution, but he wanted to make sure Santander wasn’t just ticking the corporate social responsibility box. “I wanted to do something that was useful for other people and also good for us,” Hill notes. “It had to be an integrated exercise.”

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