Hypertherm Extends Community Service Time Program
Hypertherm is expanding its Community Service Time (CST) program for 2022, the company announced.
As of next month, the company’s CST program will increase from 32 to 40 hours, providing most employees with an additional eight hours of paid time off each year to volunteer in their community. Hypertherm envisions the expanded hours will help its employees dedicate more time to volunteer roles that require a regular time commitment such as coaching, mentoring and helping senior citizens live independently, the company said.
“We are excited to offer this expanded benefit to Hypertherm Associates, many of whom already serve in excess of 32 hours a year,” said Jenny Levy, Hypertherm’s vice president of people, community and the environment. “After expanding our program from 24 to 32 hours in 2017, we saw an increase in the depth of Associate volunteering. Our Associates were able to better serve nonprofits by making long-term commitments that helped further specific goals. We expect the addition of eight more hours per Associate will help us expand upon that work.”
Launched in 2003, Hypertherm’s CST program has grown from an initial 16 hours per associate. The company has found the program benefits both the community and its employees who return to work more energized and engaged with a strong sense of purpose, the company said. Nearly 70% of Hypertherm’s global associate population volunteered last year despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, serving a combined total of 20,222 hours. The participant rate in 2019, a more typical year, was even higher with an 85% participation rate and 27,898 hours served. In total, Hypertherm estimates its associates have volunteered 244,000 hours since the program’s inception, the company said.
Hypertherm’s CST program allows every associate to choose how and where to use their CST, the company said. For example, employees can stock shelves at the food pantry, construct or repair a home for a low-income family, build a trail, coach a sports team, read with children, support STEM robotics or serve on a town or nonprofit board of directors.
