Helping handsWho: Astellas

Objective: “The objective is to support vulnerable people in and around the local communities our offices are based in,” senior manager of the Astellas European Foundation and internal communications Joe Barker says. Four years ago, the pharamaceutical giant began to encourage its employees to volunteer with charities or organisations in their local communities. Thus Astellas, as a worldwide organisation, can deepen its roots locally while simultaneously developing the skills of its workforce.

Strategy: Employees spend a work day volunteering for one of Astellas’ partner organisations. Employees have, in the past, visited schools for children with communication difficulties, hospitals, charities and other organisations to take on whatever work requires addressing. Coordinators within each regional office liaise with local organisations to determine what needs doing where and how to put Astellas’ volunteers to use most effectively in the community. By painting a wall at a children’s hospital or doing light maintenance work at a community centre, the volunteers can make a real difference in the community. Astellas’ CEO even takes a day each year to teach a cooking class in a local school.

Rationale:  Barker says, “It’s a part of our commitment to building closer relationships with the communities where we work. As a healthcare company our focus is in pharmaceutical products, but we look to support wellbeing. We need to make sure that we have a tailored approach in each of our European offices and that people in each country have a dialogue with the charity before participating. That way, we’re doing something beneficial for the charity rather than it just being a team-building activity.”