Going beyond profit to make a difference

At GE (General Electric), there is more to business than profit. The company has around 131 GE Volunteer Councils located in more than 38 countries worldwide, each responsible for addressing serious social issues facing their communities. GE employees volunteer over one million hours of community service yearly in over 1,000 service projects, benefiting the lives of tens of thousands of people.

“In the Philippines, GE volunteers become mentors and tutors to underprivileged schoolchildren, builders of houses for low-income families, speakers at university lectures, and friends to the sick and the elderly,” says Jodl Gayatin, chairman of GE Volunteers Philippines. “Every employee at GE is automatically a GE volunteer who will make a difference in people’s lives.”

The group conducts regular bloodletting activities at the GE headquarters in The Fort and the GE Money Servicing facility in Alabang. It donates school supplies to public schools and street children, does beach clean-up and holds eco races. Last year, GE Volunteers in the Philippines was awarded the GE Volunteer Impact Award in the category of Global Community Day. The award was for the La Mesa Watershed tree-planting project, which logged a total of 2,000 man-hours. Recently, GE employees headed to Morong, Bataan for the Bantay Pawikan Turtle Hatchling Release project.

Colin Low, GE president for the Philippines, Singapore and Cambodia, says, “Our workforce in the Philippines is comprised of around 1,300 employees, and most are young, energetic, driven and passionate about donating their time to worthy causes. Volunteerism has been an integral part of GE’s culture for more than a century, as both an individual employee activity, as well as an organizational effort.”