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“There were lots of reasons that started us on the road that led to Reading for Life, many of which were linked to our employees and how they were feeling. We were hoping for something that would make a difference and bring our employees together. What we got was far more than that – being a Reading Buddy is an amazing experience and our company is much better off as a result.”
Nick Goddard, Corporate Affairs and Communications Manager, Unilever
“I found this program very rewarding because you’re
doing something different and giving something back to
help someone else.”
Volunteer
- The opportunity to contribute to your community.
- Motivated & empowered employees who value their employer.
- A valuable team-building tool.
- The development of inter-personal and communication skills in your staff.
- Improved morale.
- An investment in your customers of the future – children.
- An opportunity to network with other businesses.
- The chance to join a positive, highly marketable community program.
Reading for Life benefits businesses & organisations in a wide variety of ways. It can be a valuable investment in your employees, market positioning and community.
Team building and improved focus
Reading for Life is a valuable team building tool.
Employees usually visit their buddies at the same time each week, walking to the school and returning to work together. They often use this time to talk about the children they help and their experiences with the program.
Employees also come together for the orientation, training and
end-of-program party. The program gives employees a common interest, shared experiences and goals outside their work. It can open communication channels and motivate employees to share stories and help each other when they might otherwise have little in common or little contact during business hours. 
Reading for Life can be a useful tool for a company especially during times of change such as restructuring or downsizing to help motivate and align staff values. It can provide a positive focus for employees when other issues may be affecting morale.
Improved morale & skills
Employees who have been Reading Buddies have indicated that their perception of their employer has improved as a result of the program. This improved view has been shared by employees with family and friends outside the workplace and had a flow-on effect on the company’s overall community image.
Employees have also said that they felt they had made a contribution to a child’s reading skills and self-confidence as well as the school community and as a result, felt better about themselves.
Many felt they gained an insight into their own skills and personality and developed new skills as a result. There is a focus in the program on inter-personal skills, encouragement and motivation. Rather than a skill taught in an artificial course environment, these are skills that are practised on a weekly basis over 10 to 15 weeks.
The experience for employees is a motivating and empowering one and the impact of this on a company can be significant.
There is no reason why these same benefits cannot happen in a community organisation that becomes involved with the program.
Improved relationships with clients & other businesses
Reading for Life can be a powerful tool for a company if they invite both their own employees to be volunteers as well as those of their clients. This is particularly beneficial when clients are located nearby and can provide and improve networking opportunities.
The shared and empowering experience volunteers report as part of the benefits of the program can bring employees from different companies together to strengthen and expand individual relationships.
Reading for Life offers a wonderful opportunity to make a difference to your key client relationships.
Market positioning & contribution to the community
Reading for Life is ideally suited to companies who would like to better position their company in the marketplace and build their reputation.
Governments have encouraged businesses to be aware of and make positive contributions to the community and there are well-documented benefits for companies who have embraced their community responsibilities. The public is known to respond positively to businesses that are seen as caring and willing to give something back.
Reading for Life is an opportunity to harness the resources and goodwill of a company and its employees to make a contribution that is both quantifiable and tangible.
One of the greatest benefits is the ability of Learning Links to pre- and post-test the children, so that businesses and employees are fully aware of the difference they have made to the group of children they are working with. Many community opportunities cannot provide the quantifiable feedback that this program can give.
Click here to read a story on Reading for Life that appeared in the Sunday Telegraph Career One Section August 14 2005. This is a pdf file and requires Adobe Acrobat. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader by clicking on the link on this page.
“There is an element about feeling better about working with Unilever. I know when telling my friends or family that I’m doing this reading program, they’re like ‘oh you’re doing that on the weekend’ and I’m saying ‘no, I’m doing it with work and work allows me to go and do that’. It’s something completely different to what my peers are doing at their company.”
Volunteer
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