In our search for Social Friday partners, we found a true companion in Oriflame Latvia. Below is their story.
When implemented correctly, Corporate Social Responsibility activities can be a quite powerful tool for attracting and retaining top employees, creating goodwill with consumers and most important of all, leaving a positive long-term impact on the surrounding society, environment and economy.
We, at Social Friday are looking for companies that see the potential in CSR. With Social Friday, we offer an easier, smarter way to carry out CSR activities that will engage employees while helping a social cause. In our search for partners we found a like-minded group at Oriflame – a company that’s serious about committing to activities that create long-term positive effects on the people and society at large.
We introduced the concept of Social Friday to their corporate branch in Latvia, and they decided to try it out. The mission leader was Signe Riekstina – a Social Media and Brand Activation Specialist for Oriflame Baltics. She gathered a team of Oriflame coworkers and set out to make a difference in the community.
Below is our short interview with Signe where we discussed a little bit more about Oriflame’s experience with Social Friday.
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How did you find out about Social Friday and what was your first reaction?
We got inspired by Breon’s example and the various Social Friday activities they organized. It made us realize that it doesn’t take much to reach out to your local community and spend some quality time with your team. So we gathered some information, contacted a few organizations asking if they would be willing to cooperate and soon our first Social Friday started to seem like a very real thing.
Why did you decide to implement Social Friday?
I think that everyone will agree that businesses today are not just about business anymore. You have to bring value to each product or service you offer. The same goes from the workforce perspective – everyone wants to be part of a company they feel proud of. Our company Oriflame has always supported charity in a bigger scale and offers a day off to every employee who is willing to spend it helping others. We saw the potential to use this opportunity and organize our own Social Friday showing that we care about our community.
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Can you shortly recall your Social Fridays and the reactions you got from your team?
As everyone in our team is different and stands for different social causes, it was clear from the very beginning that we will have more than one Social Friday. We decided to make our first Social Friday activity a visit to an orphanage center where we spent time playing with the kids and helped them to get ready for the new school year. The following activity was a pet shelter project where we supported animals with cardboard material and food supplies. The most amazing part was not only getting this overwhelming experience together with your team, but to see how involved and supportive everyone was through the whole organizational process. It bonds the team like no other activity.
What benefits did you see after having your own Social Friday?
I think that the best part is the positive energy you create and the long term relationships you form with your local community. It’s not always just about money and other resources they lack. A simple human interaction – a talk or a hug can make a real difference. And we still keep in touch with some of the kids and social workers on social media. This is how we want to lead our business – for us it’s important to be there for each other at the end of the day!
Why do you think other companies should follow your example?
I think that every company has to do their own Social Friday just to see how little it truly takes compared with all the benefits it brings.
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What are the initial ideas you are considering for your next Social Friday?
As we all are quite active with a passion for sustainability we have an idea to do a sea trail walking day where we could not only enjoy the fresh air by the sea, but clean up the surroundings along the way. It would be nice to add more educational touch to the next Social Fridays as well, for example organizing movie events or lectures for the kids. We really see the potential behind Social Friday and would love to continue to implement such events in our work culture in the future.