Social impact

LinkedIn Employees + LinkedIn for Good InDay = InSpired Impact

july inday 2014

At LinkedIn, we’re fortunate to have a day every month called InDay to invest in our communities, ourselves, or the company, in any way that inspires us. Once a year, we rally the entire company to focus on the community during our LinkedIn for Good InDay. It’s our version of the typical ‘Global Day of Service’, but in fact there’s nothing typical about it. Because we all work at LinkedIn, a company whose vision and products are geared towards creating economic opportunity, we have the opportunity to take service to an even higher level.

I volunteered with InnVision Shelter Network and had the opportunity to sit down with two homeless job seekers - a mother and son. They are both employed and have both held steady jobs for the past 16 and 5 years, respectively, but due to tragic, unexpected circumstances, they’re living in a shelter nearby. We spent an hour together fleshing out their LinkedIn profiles, which really means talking about their dreams, their fears, and their career aspirations. I was humbled and truly touched that they would share their story with me and that I could help them (I hope) feel the slightest bit more empowered about their futures.

My greatest mentor (my dad), once told me to make sure that I worked at a place where everyone is there on purpose (pun intended). I feel so privileged to know that every LinkedIn employee is here because they want to see LinkedIn’s vision realized. So when we started planning our global day of service (which is almost completely organized by employee volunteers), my colleagues didn’t just push for 100% participation, they pushed for 100% impact.

The metrics are undeniably powerful:

  • Over 3,000 employee volunteers
  • Over 200 nonprofits served
  • Over 500 job seekers and students trained on using LinkedIn to achieve their career goals
  • Over $100,000 raised for charity by leveraging our sales team’s creative sales skills

But where these metrics come to life are in the stories -- here are a few of the top stories that showcase the spirit and intention of this impactful day:

  • Our content team partnered with Aim High and Magic Zone to bring 120 students to the Exploratorium in San Francisco, where they learned about science and technology in a fun environment alongside LinkedIn employees.

  • A group of LinkedIn interns in India planned an event for local high students to visit the office and learn some programming skills.
  • We held nine LinkedIn Coaches events in our offices globally, with employees training job seekers in transitional housing, students from the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula, and nonprofit employees on how to find opportunities on LinkedIn. LinkedIn member Alex Swallow shared his experience from the LinkedIn Coaches session he attended in London.

Our mission for this day was to demonstrate to ourselves and the world what a tremendous impact LinkedIn employees can make when we serve together, leveraging our passions, talents and the platform we work on every day. I think we’d all say “mission accomplished.”