We want corporations to pay their student employees a full salary, while allowing them to spend 10-20% of their working hours volunteering with nonprofit organizations.
The first point to consider concerns the size of the companies to which this project is to be proposed; students tend to prefer part-time jobs so let us assume a job that involves 20 hours a week. Assuming a proportion of 20% as time spent in social work paid by partner companies, this would indicatively translate into 4 hours per week.
Here we have considered a specific proportion and a very generalized case, but it is possible that in some cases this proportion translates into one working day per week, paid by the company, spent instead on social work.
Our project does not start with the idea of considering a specific target group of companies in terms of size, as it is inevitable to consider certain ethical values of these companies, but it might be difficult to apply our idea to small companies and activities at first; Imagining a business with a limited number of employees, say 2 or 3, in this case students, the adhesion to the project by these businesses could result in the need to hire a new employee to "cover" the days spent by the others on social activities, without considering the economic impact that these dynamics could have for such a business. It seems paradoxical to associate ethical value with economic value, yet society imposes certain types of reasoning on companies considering joining projects like this.
Nowadays, in reality, for large companies, ethical and moral value can and does translate into economic value.
It is an increasingly common idea in the collective imagination and in common decision-making criteria, that it is right to spend more on sustainability-oriented products, the higher price justifies values and ideals in which the catchment area recognises itself; Brands that espouse certain values are more appreciated and this is taken into account by companies when deciding on marketing strategies.
One of the most common examples of this is advertising campaigns, of which there are several types: companies launch advertising campaigns to promote a new product, to reposition themselves in the market, to remain recognisable to the catchment area and, increasingly nowadays, considering consumer habits and preferences, to make the company's values known to the market from a sustainable perspective. In this case, 'CSR' (Corporate Social Responsibility) programmes and advertising campaigns come together; companies strive to 'give back' to society, attract socially aware consumers, seek to retain the same consumers and employees, promote issues awareness and achieve long-term economic returns, without forgetting the ethical, social and moral value.
It would be easier for large companies to join such projects, being associated in the collective imagination with these values would bring an economic return that would justify the expense of paying students employed in social work and other related dynamics.
For small businesses, which tend to attract a specific and loyal catchment area, sometimes determined by factors such as location, it would be difficult at first to justify and pay for the above-mentioned issues. Collaborating with large and medium-sized businesses at first would make the project 'recognisable' and incentivise them to join.
It is indisputable to recognise that companies tend to operate with a view to financial gain, but it is possible to exploit this property to enhance and prioritize human value and this project can be a big step in this direction.