Curious what other employees think about the requirement to add volunteer hours to your goal plan for 2021? So far Verizon has encouraged employees to join company discussions about civil unrest, encouraged employees to have work place discussions about inclusion, spent sizable amounts of money developing company content to promote view points and now mandatory volunteering for all employees to promote the image that Verizon wants to project. Is it legal for a company to press its opinions of race, s-xual orientation, politics, inclusion, environment, and what company sanctioned volunteer activities you are required to choose from? When Verizon told us they were transforming the company, I took that to mean the CEO was going to change technical and managerial aspects of the business. I did not realize it included a social makeover. I'm all for equality, inclusion, charity, and a cleaner environment. I'm just not used to my C.E.O. constantly implying that we all need fixing. It feels a little bit like being constantly accused of something you are not doing!
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This is extremely inappropriate.
No employee can be asked/ mandated to do anything without compensation. Period. End of story.
It hardly matters what the ask is for. The simple fact that a company feels entitled to mandate what employees do on their own time, without compensation, is an atrocity.
If there is not massive and decisive condemnation of this overstepping on Verizon’s part, it will escalate. History has shown this to be true.
Do not, under any circumstance, give one second of your time to Verizon without being paid. Never. Not once.
Volunteer all you want, and so many do as there are good people at Verizon. But never, ever, do it because Verizon asked.
All time Verizon mandates shall be answered thus: “Where’s the money, Honey?” Or if you prefer: “where’s the cash,Slash?”
I have no qualms volunteering on VZ’s time and letting the rest of my projects suffer. I dare someone to put it in my PAD and then write me up for doing it on VZ time. Any lawyer would have a field day bringing that to a jury.
I voluntarily spend my money... does that count? Between restaurants, malls, marinas, unnecessary gas consumption, amazon/warehouse workers and vacations etc, I must be volunteering 50hrs/mo and directly helping hundreds of people year-round. The question is - is it volunteering and charity simultaneously? Part of every dollar I spend goes directly to a people in need - from the workers at the POS to those across the product life cycle and supply chain to the miners on other continents.
Meanwhile, you have people that find that wasteful/distasteful and contribute very little to the economy, but at the same time, they donate $15/yr to pink ribbon month or go fund me and think they're righteous. I'm not saying we don't need both people, but they'll have to donate at least $40k/yr to charity and/or wasteful spending to catch up with the good I'm doing. As a side note, if you put you're money in the market, yes, you are helping people but very indirectly, which is not the point of volunteerism.
If I spent my limited time/money on volunteering and/or charity, people would lose their jobs and/or hours.
Final note, if your volunteerism is something you would do/did anyway, that's out of scope for this thread. Just seems silly you would cheapen it by letting Vz get credit for your good deed(s), except to the extent they match your donations (and that's still a compromise).
Bottom Line: Verizon should stay out of my personal life, but I'm happy to volunteer while I'm on the clock (which will delay my projects)... Does Vz support that (ie. real volunteerism where you do something for free in lieu of making money)????????
I hate all of it. But, I did sign up for recycling 5 aluminum cans 5 times and got 5 hours for 2021. Each day I went for a walk down my road and picked up 5 cans on their time. Screw em with their own rules.
Amen
- - Trying to reprogram or brainwash your employees definetly runs contrary to Inclusion.
- - The statement mandatory volunteerism is realized as incorrect as soon as you say it.
- - Micromanaging employees and driving higher productivity while holding employees at 40 hrs leaves little time for other things, then making them include volunteering as part of their work week taxes even more their ability to complete their work in the 40hrs.
- - This puts on display for all to see just how out of touch with reality senior management really is, managers at the local level are telling direct reports that they don't agree with it, "but it is what it is".
Don't we volunteer all the extra hours we work without being paid for?
Our Manager put it in our performance agreement, target min 4 hours per employee per year.
Why is it their concern on what I do off company time? Sounds Mandatory to me by putting it in my agreement that I have no ability to object
Mandatory Volunteering Is an oxymoron
Hans leadership is to transform Verizon's employee based workforce into a low cost 3rd party transient one while trying to build out 5G and beyond. The problem is just because we built it, doesn't mean they will come. Out intelligent network is still a commodity.
Thank you for the post. It will likely be deleted.
I am here to work , and work more than my 40 hours a week, and it’s a tough job. I also have my plate full with family obligations.
Now I have all these emails and calls about volunteering.
I agree that this should not be mandatory and pushed on us.
Over the years we all did volunteering with other charities but it was voluntary.
Curious who the leader is pushing this project.