For Capgemini, a global leader in digital technology and transformation, ensuring everyone has access to the benefits of the online world is a cornerstone of their corporate social responsibility programme. And supporting people’s digital skills is one of the main pillars of this programme.
“We are a technology company; we help large organisations to deliver digital transformation So we feel a strong social responsibility to ensure no one in society is left behind in this move to digital automation.” Sally Caughey, Head of Digital Inclusion, Capgemini UK
There was also an operational driver for Capgemini which, globally, had made a pledge in 2020 to deliver over 100,000 hours of volunteering worldwide. In the UK, Capgemini knew that they needed a solution that could scale, and that would enthuse employees to volunteer. And the engagement needed to be instant, as their employees are really busy with a lot of demands on their time.
A new kind of employee volunteering programme
In 2020 they began working with Digital Unite to craft a programme to encourage employees to become Digital Champions, able to help those around them to embrace digital technology.
The resulting online platform, Inspire, uses a bite-sized, nudge approach to raise awareness about digital exclusion and its impacts. This boosts employees’ confidence in being able to help and galvanises them to pledge to take action.
The e-learning programme has already motivated hundreds of staff, including many who had never volunteered before, to give vital support to those at risk of being left behind by the digital world, including family, friends and local communities.
“I learned a lot from the Inspire courses and they showed me how I could support not just my family but others too. My skills were good before but Inspire has improved them. It’s shown me that just because it’s easy to me doesn’t mean it is easy to others. It’s allowed me to take more credit for the work I do, so it has helped build my confidence as well.” Sam, Inspirer
For Capgemini as an organisation, Inspire has spread the message about corporate digital responsibility across the company. It’s enabled them to shift their focus from demonstrating employee engagement with volunteering, to demonstrating the social impact of the volunteering.
“We have got the message out that digital exclusion is a big problem, that we as a technology company have a responsibility in this area, and that you don’t need to be a tech person to make a difference” says Sally.