A vital element in the Group’s community engagement strategy is staff volunteerism. The Foundation functions on the assistance of the Group's staff volunteers in all its projects. The John Keells Volunteer Network enables employees to reach beyond their day-to-day work to contribute to the community and environment. Staff volunteerism is also a means of attracting and retaining staff, with new recruits being made aware of volunteering opportunities and encouraged to volunteer as a part of the Centre Induction Programme. The Group has also introduced a volunteer leave policy, enabling staff to be released for CSR activities with minimum restraint.

Management and Governance:
Social responsibility has the highest commitment of the senior leadership of the John Keells Group, with Chairman, John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH), being the Chairman of the Executive Committee of John Keells Foundation (JKF). JKF’s strategic management is overseen by its Management Committee (MC) - comprising JKF staff and a cross-sectoral team of senior executives representing project champions, sector coordinators and key functional staff - under the direction of JKH’s Head of CSR. While JKF is managed by JKH’s Head of Operations, CSR, each project is championed by a member of the MC, coordinated by JKF’s project officers and implemented with the support of volunteers from across the Group. The MC meets once in two months, JKF’s activities are reported to the Executive Committee and the JKH Board of Directors on a quarterly basis, and its accounts and operations are audited annually.

Objective:
Connecting the John Keells Family more closely to one another and the community, and enabling employees to develop skills such as confidence, communication, leadership, teamwork, whilst giving them pride in the organization and a sense of personal fulfillment.

Impact:
More than 500 staff volunteers engage in projects undertaken by the JKF each year (with many of them volunteering in more than one activity per year), in addition to those who support CSR initiatives at a sector/business level.