Mankato Free Press (March 13, 2023) — The concept of “corporate culture” has grown in importance as companies face challenges attracting new employees.
Increasingly, how businesses support nonprofits in their community is high on the list of questions when potential employees are job hunting.
Heather Thielges, partner and Midwest market leader with Eide Bailly in Mankato, has been with the firm 20 years and has been involved with recruiting many of those years.
“In the last three to five years I’ve been involved in new hires coming out of college and I hear a lot more questions about corporate philosophy and how we give back to the community. They really want to know how companies are making a difference and your charitable programs are a real, tangible thing you can tell them.”
Tom Lentz, market president at West Bank in Mankato, agrees. He said they can point to charitable giving, financially and with time as being part of the bank’s culture.
“Part of our job descriptions at West Bank is a component of building strong communities,” he said.
“If communities have strong nonprofits the community is strong.”
Nancy Zallek, president and CEO of the Mankato Area Foundation, said she hears more from business leaders about how corporate involvement in nonprofits is a good tool for attracting talent in a tight labor market.
“Charitable giving and philanthropy have always been important to this community but we’re finding that as we are trying to attract talent to the community the (company) culture is very important to this generation coming up.