Employee Volunteering

The Telkom Foundation Employee Volunteering programme consists of three projects.

 

1. Giving from the Heart

Giving form the Heart, our employee payroll volunteerism initiative, reached new heights in the 2017 financial as we broadened our base of employee volunteers by more than 30%, which is a 64% increase in donations from employees. The enthusiastic response to our drive to increase contributors was heart-warming. The initiative gives employees the opportunity to make a difference through the voluntary deduction from their salary monthly. This is paid directly into The Giving Organisation Trust account, which supports some of South Africa’s most reputable charities. The regular donations provide financial security that underpins the sustainability of these organisations. The Giving Organisation charities are representative of areas of need in South Africa society. These include:

During the year, Telkom was awarded Diamond status for their outstanding involvement and contributions to the benefiting charities of The Giving Organisation Trust.

 

2. Adopt-A-Project

As part of the Telkom Foundation’s initiatives to give back to communities, Telkom executives are given the opportunity to adopt a project or organisation that is close to their hearts. Over 30 Telkom executives select a worthy cause and the Telkom Foundation provides support and funding to the organisation.

From March, 2017 this initiative was opened to the rest of the Telkom employees to come up with innovative ideas supporting their communities with ICT solutions and encourage team building as they have to work in groups of at least 5 employees.

 

3. Time and Skill

Telkom Employees are invited to take part in various initiatives surrounding the selected high schools which are supported by the Telkom Foundation in Education and more specific in supplementary teaching.

Employees take part in Cyber Safety training for learners and the parents of these learners. Supporting material is handed to the learners to keep them aware of the dangers of Social Media and how not to abuse or be abused on these platforms.

During Mandela month Employee Volunteers pack food parcels to serve the communities where there is a dire need for food.

The ladies of Telkom knit and crochet the most beautiful blankets as part of the 67 Blankets initiative driven by Carolyn Steyn who started this creative project because she was put to a challenge by Zelda la Grange, the personal assistant to Madiba. Every year these blankets firstly form part of the world record initiative and thereafter it is distributed to needy families in our schools’ communities.

Telkom Volunteers assisted with covering books and cleaning up school yards. They painted carports and class room walls. They washed and polished class room floors.

During Literacy Month (September) hundreds of books were collected from our staff and distributed to two of the five schools. The employee volunteers visited these schools to address the learners about the importance of reading.

Telkom employees have great hearts that beat in the right place. There is never a shortage of volunteers and when they work with the learners, parents and communities, they do it with dedication and joy.