Achieving Balance by Giving Back
PR is a demanding profession. We’re constantly on the go and juggling multiple responsibilities as we do our best work for clients.
Sometimes, we need to be reminded that there’s a larger world beyond the daily rush of strategy meetings, press calls and social media work. Staying engaged in our communities is important and a key aspect of a healthy, balanced life — and I’ve even found that during times when I’m most involved with passion projects outside of work, that engagement and spirit spills into the office as well.
That’s one reason why I love being part of our OffleashCARES team, the agency’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. Now in its 3rd year, OffleashCARES is committed to helping the world and communities around us, and address issues that are important to our team. It also offers a way for employees to enrich our lives outside work.
That’s why one important Offleash employee benefit is having eight hours of VTO (volunteer time off) each year, when we can individually go out into the world to serve causes we are passionate about. Giving back is key to our culture, as employees have used their flexible VTO time for everything from packing and delivering meals to Ronald McDonald House, to advocating for refugee and immigrant rights to US Congressional staff with Refugee Council USA.
On top of this, OffleashCARES also offers agency-wide volunteer events for us to come together as coworkers to roll up our sleeves and perform important work in our community.
These include today’s Earth Day event, during which we joined forces with other Bay Area PR agencies in partnership with the Presidio Trust to continue the restoration of Mountain Lake in San Francisco’s Presidio.
This is our sixth consecutive year organizing this Earth Day project. We joined up with approximately 50 participants from 12 local PR agencies — our biggest turnout yet! We weeded, mulched and pruned. In the process, we enjoyed a great day in nature, bonding with each other and fellow agencies while taking a well-earned break from our fast-paced day-to-day work. It is also beyond rewarding to return to the same location year after year to see how we have all made a lasting impact.
We look forward to continuing our work and finding new opportunities for our agency and employees to seek purpose through volunteering. It’s all part of building upon our culture of stewardship and responsibility — while striving for balance.
To learn more about OffleashCARES and our commitment to giving back, visit: https://offleashpr.com/about/offleash-cares/
Shannon Campbell specializes in media relations and strategy, social media and speaking and awards programs for Offleash. She has experience working with clients in a wide variety of industries, including cybersecurity, data analytics and biotech. Contact her at shannon@offleashpr.com.