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Employee involvement

Our mission of helping people to do more, feel better and live longer can be achieved not just through medicines, vaccines and consumer products but also through employee involvement. We encourage our employees to become involved with deserving causes in their local communities around the globe.  We support their time and dedication with various internal programmes and opportunities to encourage active employee involvement.

The PULSE Volunteer Partnership Programme is our newest corporate responsibility initiative. Starting in 2009, PULSE will empower GSK's high-performing employees to volunteer using their professional expertise. Lasting for a period of three to six months, a PULSE volunteer will work full-time with one of our partner non-governmental organisations (NGO) to make a significant impact in impoverished communities around the world.  With their skills and knowledge, PULSE volunteers will work to build positive, sustainable change within the NGO's programming and service delivery in developed and developing countries. PULSE is an integral part of GSK's commitment to our work with communities around the world; it will help to build solutions and improvements across sectors in health, education and the environment. 

Orange Day, introduced globally in January 2009, has enabled thousands of employees to make a significant difference through engaging with their local community. The initiative allows employees to take one day fully paid to volunteer for a chosen community project, organisation or cause which they support. Building on the strong number of active volunteers currently within our organisation, Orange Day has developed volunteering within the company to substantial levels. Not only does the employee benefit from the team building experience but the organisation receives help with projects at no cost. Events which have recently been supported include distributing rice to the homeless in North Carolina, volunteering in charity shops in the UK, refurbishing nursing homes in Sri Lanka, planting trees in Mexico and donating books to children in China. GSK hopes this is a way to encourage employees’ interest in long-term volunteering.

We promote active involvement from our employees with the charities they support. Therefore those who have pledged their time, effort and regular commitment to a cause, are invited to apply for financial grants through our Making A Difference (MAD) programme in the UK and the GSK Investment in Volunteer Excellence (GIVE) in the US. If an employee regularly volunteers their own personal time to an NGO or charity, they may be eligible to receive a grant for that organisation. In the UK alone, GSK has donated in excess of £2 million to local charities through the MAD scheme.

Give as You Earn (GAYE), is a payroll giving scheme where an employee or pensioner can donate to any charitable organisation in the UK, straight from their pay.

In the US, we match donations from our employees and retirees to the value of over $5 million and have given $1.4 million to match employee donations to our annual United Way campaign.

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