In the employee engagement landscape, one name stands out: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). HPE’s approach is simple — it’s all about tapping into employee expertise and passion. It’s working. Across programs like skills-based volunteering and company giving campaigns (in which they’ve donated $5M+ to tech nonprofits!), HPE has managed to keep employee participation in the double digits. Leading the charge is Monica Batchelder, HPE’s Chief Sustainability Officer. With deep knowledge of how ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) practices can benefit business and drive employee engagement, Monica is a driving force behind HPE’s employee engagement strategy. I interviewed Monica to learn what makes HPE’s people-first approach so effective.
Shannon Farley: ESG is at the heart of HPE’s mission. Considering you’re a thought leader in the space, could you give us some insight into how focusing on ESG can drive business outcomes, especially during economic uncertainties?
Monica Batchelder: We aim to advance the way people live and work, and ESG is a big part of that. It’s in HPE’s DNA. For decades, we’ve been transparent about our ESG outcomes and mindful of how our work intersects with environmental and social issues. In fact, we lean into our ESG commitments even more when the economic climate gets shaky.
Let me paint a picture for you with a couple of examples. First, we’re setting big sustainability goals. We recently accelerated our net zero commitments, which means getting our greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible. HPE is one of the first in global IT to have a 2040 or earlier net-zero target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, which demonstrates alignment with the latest climate science. Secondly, through programs like HPE Accelerating Impact, we continue to invest in innovation ecosystems, and enable entrepreneurs to develop and scale tech solutions that improve lives.
We set the bar high for ourselves. And we collaborate across sectors to achieve our big objectives.
Farley: HPE is ahead of the curve when it comes to the success of its employee engagement campaigns. When most hover around single digits, how has HPE been able to drive double-digit engagement?
Batchelder: We’re really proud of our engagement rates. I think it boils down to the fact that our employees are really committed to skills-based volunteering. Our team members have unique skills and expertise that they generously share with nonprofits to make a difference. So much so that more than half of our team members get involved in giving, matching, volunteering, or other HPE Foundation initiatives which I’m incredibly proud of.
We design our programs to amplify team members’ volunteering and giving activities. We encourage them to nominate nonprofit organizations that they think the HPE Foundation should direct support to. And we offer team members substantial paid time off to volunteer each year. So we’ve turned engagement into something that’s enjoyable – a way for them to connect with their colleagues over shared values. It’s this blend of passion, convenience, and fun that drives our engagement success.
Farley: Tell us more about your programs.
Batchelder: We’ve found that when our team members have the power to support causes they’re passionate about, the results are highly impactful. We’ve designed the HPE Foundation’s programs to allow our team members to support millions of eligible organizations in a variety of ways. And it turns out that this empowerment and trust really boosts engagement.
While team members have so much to choose from, we mostly focus our efforts on where HPE is uniquely positioned to make a difference across three thematic areas: healthcare, DEI and human rights, and community resiliency.
One program I’m particularly proud of is HPE Accelerating Impact, which we run in collaboration with you and your team at Fast Forward. In this company-wide, global campaign, each HPE team member gets a donation credit from the HPE Foundation that they can direct towards a tech nonprofit of their choice.
Every year, we make sure the portfolio of tech nonprofits cover a diverse range of missions, geographies, founders’ backgrounds, and more. We want our team members to connect with these organizations and find one that truly resonates with them. Since we launched the HPE Accelerating Impact Campaign in 2019, we’ve directed over $5M towards tech nonprofits that are doing vital, world-changing work.
Farley: Trust takes center stage in your campaigns. It’s all about empowering employees to decide where HPE Foundation resources go. Can you give us a glimpse into how you manage to make your campaigns employee-centric?
Batchelder: The most effective corporate social impact stems from blending what the community needs and what we as a company can uniquely offer. Who better to understand than our team members who have proximity to local challenges? We’ve found that when we put trust in their hands, and really listen to our team members, it doesn’t just multiply our impact – it brings our team closer together.
A great example is We are HPE Day. We are HPE Day celebrates HPE and our team members with a day dedicated to how we embrace, live, and celebrate our culture – which includes giving back to the communities where we live and work. On our first annual We are HPE Day, over 70 HPE sites organized volunteer events supporting dozens of global causes – healthcare, disaster relief, environmental, and more. Our team members volunteer a lot, so the level of engagement wasn’t surprising, but it was really great to see how team members all showed up on the same day and made a difference in their own local context.
Farley: HPE is a global company. Your employee footprint is actually larger outside the U.S. How do you weave different national priorities into a cohesive corporate strategy?
Batchelder: That’s a great point. Regardless of the country we’re working in, there’s a common thread that runs through our ESG strategy – harnessing technology to make positive ripples that reshape how we all live and work. We empower team members to drive impact, but we always adjust the focus to respect and respond to local contexts and needs.
For example, our eHealth Centers in India offer routine care, diagnostics, and vaccinations to battle rare diseases. Or take our co-generation plant at our Puerto Rico facility, which not only provides a cleaner, reliable energy source but, more importantly, allows us to shelter our team members and their families during the island’s biggest storms. And then, there is our HPE office in Wroclaw, Poland where we opened our doors to an organization that is providing support for displaced Ukrainians. While these initiatives are threaded by our global strategy, each is responsive to the needs of the locales we work in.
Farley: HPE team members and the HPE Foundation have supported 15K+ nonprofits around the globe. Can you share some of your favorite organizations that you’ve supported?
Batchelder: We have supported so many incredible organizations. It’s hard to pick a favorite! But if I had to narrow it down, OpenAQ and Climate Cabinet certainly stand out. I’ve always had a keen interest in issues around climate, and what these two organizations are doing is critical. Fighting global air pollution and pushing for climate action by informing policymakers – I can’t think of more pressing uses for data right now.
Farley: What drew you to this work and what keeps you going?
Batchelder: When I was a kid, the job title “Chief Sustainability Officer” didn’t even exist. Now, looking back, I see that my passion for environmental issues and sustainability was actually charting a path to this very role: a role I didn’t know could be mine.
As HPE’s Chief Sustainability Officer, I enjoy coming up with ideas that can push our company forward and take our mission to the next level. I appreciate the challenge of figuring out how to communicate the relevance of sustainability to everyone in the company, no matter what their role is. It’s about problem-solving, messaging, and framing things in the right way.
I am proud to work at HPE because I truly believe that technology and innovation are the best and biggest ways that we can create a positive impact in the world.
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