The community benefits: the joint connects the business sector with social impact
More and more businesses in Israel see creating a social impact as having significant value in their business activities. In light of the burning socio-economic challenges faced by Israeli society, innovative collaborations of the business sector were created with the joint organization, to reduce the social gaps in Israel and to create a significant social impact
In collaboration with Joint
The Joint organization, Israel’s social development center, recently characterized the most pressing socio-economic challenges that Israeli society will face in the coming years. “We carried out an in-depth process comparing Israel to the world, comparing different populations, and we also took into account forward-looking trends – and on this basis, we defined the five major challenges we will deal with in the coming years,” says Dr. Sigal Shelah, CEO of Joint Israel, and enumerates the challenges: “promoting socio-economic leadership; promoting independent living for people with disabilities; increasing productivity and integration into quality employment; optimal aging in the age of a hundred years of life; and increasing the efficiency and usefulness of the public systems in Israel.”
Dr. Siegel Shelah, CEO of Joint Israel / Photo: Eric Sultan
Dr. Siegel Shelah, CEO of Joint Israel. Photo: Eric Sultan
For each of these challenges, a map of indicators was built at the national level, along with all the factors working on the subject, from among the relevant government ministries, local authorities, the third sector, the community, philanthropy as well as the business sector. All the bodies work together, in order to
To see that in the coming years the indices of the State of Israel in the social fields are improving. “For us, this is a real socio-economic impact,” says Dr. Shelah. “We believe that the business sector has a significant and unique role in achieving that social impact, and we see how our diverse collaborations with the business sector enable significant leverage of both an impact-oriented smart investment of resources and of the core of the business in order to generate social value”.
Financial education and financial independence in retirement
Today, many companies seek to act regularly, meaningfully and strategically in the social field and not only in a minimal and one-time manner. Bank Mizrahi Tefahot has been working in cooperation with the joint for several years to promote significant social issues over time, one of which is financial education for citizens in preparation for retirement. According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, each year approximately 80,000 people reach retirement age (women – 62, men – 67). Israelis are expected to live for about 20 years after retirement, although this is a long and significant period of life, retirees today receive little guidance and information regarding their financial conduct, their pension rights, the possibilities of continuing work and tax benefits. Cooperation between Bank Mizrahi Tefahot and the joint led to the creation of retirement preparation workshops where you get tools that will help you make informed decisions.
In the workshop, they will discuss whether and when it is worth retiring, how to retire calmly and respectfully, learn the rights and get tools to use them. After half a year since the project began – 90% of the participants expressed satisfaction with the course and close to 50% stated that they have the required knowledge and that they feel ready to make decisions for retirement.
“As a business organization whose activities are based on the community in which it operates, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot sees itself as committed to involvement and investment in the community,” says Tamar Safar, director of the organizational development and training department at Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, who is in charge of the bank’s corporate responsibility. “The principles of the bank, which strives for progress and initiative, yet for humanity and a personal relationship, fit well within the framework of the bank’s partnership with the Joint organization. The bank supports the senior population in retirement preparation workshops developed by Joint-Eschel and are intended to provide knowledge and practical tools for making informed financial decisions and to help In dealing with retirement, in addition – the bank
Supports the acceleration program of the “Beehive” – the Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, established by the Joint and the National Insurance Funds in Lod.”
Independent living for people with disabilities
In Israel live over one and a half million people with disabilities, which make up about 17% of the total population. The prevailing trend in Israel and in the world is to encourage and increase independent and autonomous living in the community, while creating an envelope of supporting services. The Joint-Israel Beyond Disability and Zionism 2000 project “Shava Pituach” changes the perception regarding people with disabilities by positioning this population as a significant consumer audience, with power, for whom the business sector has an interest in producing adapted products. At the Strauss company, they took up the gauntlet, as part of a social strategy that sees the need to make its products accessible and appropriate for the entire population and to understand the social and business value of that. In collaboration with the “Shava Pituach” project, they created accessible snack packages that can be opened with only one hand.
According to Ariela Weiss, CEO of the Strauss Salty Division: “As a leading food company, we got to know people for whom opening snack packages independently was almost a task for them.
impossible. The launch of the new packaging is the culmination of a process at the heart of which is an understanding of the needs of the variety of our customers, a willingness to listen and a true openness to change. This change is another milestone in our journey to create a company that sees a wide range of needs and works to increase equality among its customers. We are committed to continuing the process of improving the products and services we offer, so that more and more people, with different needs, can benefit from them.”
The move is the first step in the process of making packaging accessible at Strauss Israel with the aim of expanding the company’s product offerings that enable equality and increased independence for people with disabilities and their families. Other corporations have already joined the “Shwah Pituach” project and are working on adapted products in various areas of life, for people with various disabilities, in order to promote an independent and autonomous life as much as possible.
Diversity and inclusion in employment
The national initiative to integrate ultra-Orthodox in high-tech, founded by the Population Employment Administration in the labor branch, the Joint and Coalition for Ultra-Orthodox Employment, will create a framework for training ultra-Orthodox for work
In high-tech, with the necessary adaptations for this population. What makes the project successful is the extensive cooperation with many diverse high-tech companies, which allows for the development of placement practices, accompaniment, organizational development and cultural adaptations that can be replicated and expanded to the entire high-tech industry and other populations. At the individual level, the project allows exposure and connection to leading companies, in-depth knowledge of the variety of functions that exist in the market, exposure to advanced technologies and the recruitment processes in companies, and is a source of knowledge for companies on the topic of integrating the ultra-Orthodox population.
Yulia Eitan, head of the Population Employment Administration in the labor branch, said “We invest a lot of resources and efforts to integrate the ultra-Orthodox society into a knowledge-rich industry, and we constantly work in creative ways and partnerships to develop mechanisms for the integration of ultra-orthedim in high-tech. We see this project as a real opportunity for both parties, both for the ultra-Orthodox public That he will be exposed to the high-tech world and integrate into it after receiving and equipping himself with the necessary tools, qualifications and skills for this, and for the Israeli high-tech industry, which wishes to recruit competent and suitable employees. The purpose of the project is to bring about optimal integration in leading companies in the industry, thereby creating and expanding the circles of influence on the integration of ultra-Orthodox in knowledge-intensive industries.”
The ultra-Orthodox technology conference as part of the national project to integrate ultra-orthedim into high-tech / photo: Rivka Yaffe
The ultra-Orthodox technology conference as part of the national project to integrate ultra-orthedim into high-tech. Photo: Rivka Yaffe
Philips, which cooperates with the project, sees the project as a tool for promoting social change. “We at Philips believe in an organization that is a mirror image of our company and value the value of human diversity as something that contributes to creativity, innovation, excellence and the satisfaction of our employees,” says Keren Razon, global recruitment manager at Philips. “We work in cooperation with organizations that promote the employment of diverse populations who are less successful in integrating into the high-tech industry, from a perspective that sees our business capabilities as an engine for social change. The excellent cooperation with the national initiative for the integration of ultra-Orthodox in high-tech allows us to increasingly include employees from the ultra-Orthodox sector, and to form a more diverse and inclusive space “.
“Social change is a process, not a short-term one-off action,” Dr. Shelah concludes. economic in which we deal. This is an important and welcome trend, which reflects the understanding that at the end of the day, social resilience is the business of all of us – the public, social, philanthropic and business sectors as well.”