Commvault Employees Give Back to New Jersey in a Big Way
The employees at Commvault (Tinton Falls) have just completed a month-long marathon of volunteer events designed to allow them contribute to their community. Commvault is an enterprise-data-management company, and one of New Jersey’s largest technology employers.
“We launched the ‘Commvault Cares Month of Volunteerism’ in Tinton Falls as part of our corporate social responsibility [CSR] efforts as an organization, to drive engagement and give employees the opportunity to give back to our local community,” said Jesper Helt, VP and chief human resources officer at Commvault.
Since August 1, every workday throughout the month had an associated volunteer opportunity, either on-site at the Tinton Falls office or off-site at various local charities. The events ranged from an hour to a half day, and provided opportunities for team building in cases where teams signed up for an event together. Over the course of 27 volunteer opportunities, more than 300 employees donated a combined 865 hours of their time to charities in need.
The company encouraged all employees to participate in the volunteer activities with manager permission, but its goal was for each employee to volunteer at least once during the month. The company refers to its employees as “Vaulters,” and Helt told NJTechWeekly.com that employees were really responsible for creating the program.
“It’s their incredible sense of community that helped us formally create a CSR team, who then built the program. However, the original idea for the Commvault Cares Month of Giving was conceived by Lisa McGahran, on the human resources team, who, in turn, made sure many of our 70 summer interns got involved in orchestrating the planning and execution of the program,” Helt said.
“Our Vaulters are a passionate bunch, and that passion definitely extends to giving back to the communities where we work and play. The enthusiasm that our people bring to the table is projected through the different ways they take the initiative throughout the year, from raising money and awareness for women’s and men’s health; or donating their time, toys, or food around the holiday season; or even participating in our annual bike ride from London to Paris for children’s medical research. Vaulters never do anything halfheartedly, and that’s why when we looked at dedicating the entire month of August to volunteerism, we knew they would take it to another level.” Helt said.
Commvault found the array of opportunities by crowdsourcing through its employees. “The advantage of being one of the biggest employers in Monmouth County is that it makes it easy to tap into organizations that are close to our Vaulters’ hearts and minds. Our goal was to activate in the month of August, but also to sustain those over time, and partner closely with the community.
“We were fortunate to work with so many wonderful and inspiring nonprofits, such as Horizons in Red Bank (on-site volunteers and a backpack and school-supply drive); Ronald McDonald House in Long Branch (We put our chef hats on and cooked meals for families staying at the home); Lunch Break, in Red Bank; Arbor Terrace Shrewsbury; Project Linus, at local hospitals (handmade blankets); Operation Goody Bag for Earle naval base; Habitat for Humanity (helping build homes through a sweat equity program); and the St. Bernard Project (rebuilding Sandy-damaged homes). We even partnered with High Tech High School [Lincroft], putting our gardening skills to the test. After all was said and done, each employee was given a unique opportunity to give back and flex some untapped potential.”
