National water retailer, Wave, has launched Alaya, a platform to connect and measure their staff involvement with good causes and initiatives.
Wave has invested in Alaya as part of their social and sustainability promise. Alaya records the water or carbon savings made by employees as they take on challenges such as reducing the length of their shower or going vegan for a week. As well as these sustainability challenges, there are a number of wellbeing ones too. The platform gives employees access to volunteering opportunities and fundraising initiatives, both online and in person, locally, nationally and internationally.
Employees will be able to suggest and generate support for charities and causes they’re passionate about as well as match their skills to existing volunteering opportunities across the UK and around the world.
Thanks to a unique algorithm, Alaya provides each individual Wave employee, and Wave as a whole, with a tangible measurement unit (a “Hopey”). This means that along with the monetary amounts donated to charity, the ‘good’ from volunteering activities can also be measured. In addition to boosting employee wellbeing and helping to give staff a purpose by showing the impact they’re making and carbon they’re offsetting, Wave will use the company-wide Hopey’s score, alongside their other initiatives, to contribute to their environmental targets and work towards a new ISO standard in Social Responsibility, ISO 26000.
Jane Austin, Wave’s Director of HR, commented, “As a business, we’re dedicated to doing good for our people, our communities, our company and our planet and we know that many of our employees already do great things to support the work of charities. We’re thrilled to have launched Alaya as it gives us the opportunity to not only recognise what our people already do but enable them to support causes that matter to them. We believe we’re the first in the Water Retail sector to launch such an innovative approach to volunteering. As wellbeing is at the core of our culture it is also fitting that some of the challenges we’re offering to our people include the chance to have a virtual coffee with a colleague they don’t know and other opportunities that enhance connections with others.
Austin continued, “The launch of our social and sustainability promise in October 2021 was only the beginning. We know that we can collectively make a positive impact, not only locally but nationally and internationally, and through Alaya, we now have a way to demonstrate the ways we’re delivering on our commitment.”