The online travel company introduces additional opportunities for employees to give back to the organizations they care about most.
BELLEVUE, WASH. – On one recent summer day, Expedia employees from around the world rallied together for the company’s inaugural global Day of Caring. For the companywide volunteerism event, employees representing all functions, lines of business, and locations were encouraged to leave the office for the day in order to lend a hand to deserving organizations in their own communities. While company-backed volunteer efforts like Expedia’s Day of Caring may not be a new idea in a city like Seattle that is rife with civic-minded corporations, the sheer reach of Expedia’s first-ever global volunteer effort made for some pretty staggering results.
In a single day, more than 2,000 Expedia employees – equivalent to one-fifth of the company’s global workforce – representing more than 50 offices across 30 different countries volunteered on behalf of charitable organizations in their communities. In all, the company clocked more than 6,300 volunteer hours while serving nearly 100 different organizations. Efforts included environmental clean-ups, food bank sorting, technology-related projects and hosting clothing and food drives to support local community giving banks.
Expedia’s Day of Caring initiative is just one example of the expanded global focus on philanthropic efforts from the world’s leading online travel company. The company also recently extended its Matching Gifts program – previously only available to employees in the US and Canada – worldwide. Now, financial donations made to charitable organizations by all full-time and part-time Expedia employees in all parts of the world are eligible to be fully-matched by the company, up to $3,000 annually per person. As a company whose employees are passionate about giving back to their communities, Expedia’s enhanced global matching gifts program more closely aligns with employees’ desires to financially support the causes that are personally important to them.
“No matter where in the world you look – whether it’s the US, the UK, India, or Japan – there are people and organizations in need,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, Chief Executive Officer, Expedia, Inc. “Fundamentally, as a company, it’s our responsibility to support the communities where we live and work. Luckily, our employees’ passion extends beyond travel to making meaningful contributions locally and now we offer great ways to help Expedia, Inc. employees turn their passion into action.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
