As remote and hybrid work continue to redefine organizational connectivity, HR leaders across industries are challenged to bring employees together across physical divides. At the philanthropic arm of benefits administration tech provider Businessolver, a solution was found in a new initiative that allows employees to participate in community-oriented service trips.
It’s a strategy that connects back to the Businessolver Foundation mission: enabling “Solvers” to support communities and deliver “tech with heart.”
Carrie Clogg, foundation director, says that coming out of COVID and in a new remote environment, Businessolver’s 2,700 employees needed a stronger connection to the company culture, which is rooted in inclusivity and community involvement.
Clogg brought an idea to the board of directors: a service trip to a nonprofit partner in Louisville, Ky., that would enable Solvers across the country, from different job levels and with varying tenures, to work alongside one another.
“I told them, ‘We’ve got to do something to preserve the amazing culture we have,’ ” she recalls. “We have something special and we didn’t want it to suffer because we were 100% remote now.”
Clogg got the go-ahead and formalized an application and evaluation process, with 12 Solvers ultimately participating in the inaugural Kentucky trip in 2023. Apart from volunteering for the nonprofit, the employees on site learned about the history of Louisville, participated in DEI-focused activities and a book club with the nonprofit’s board of directors—all while team-building and bonding throughout the 12-hour days of service.
In post-trip surveys, 100% of participants reported their job satisfaction improved “dramatically” after the experience, Clogg says. Just as exciting, she notes, is that each member is now actively involved in a nonprofit in their own community—as volunteers, board members or advocates.
“The theory that this experience could spread the love, so to speak, really happened, she says.”
An ongoing evolution
The first trip was such a success that leadership immediately green-lighted more experiences.
“I pitched an increase from one to two trips, and our CEO said, ‘How about six?’ ” Clogg says.
The foundation organized six successful service trips in 2024 and, for this year, shifted the model a bit: In addition to four large, week-long experiences, previous participants were encouraged to stage smaller service activities in their local communities, with eight such experiences coming together.
“To have past participants take on this leadership role and feel like they have ownership of the foundation as much as I do and as much as the board does, that’s really important,” Clogg says. “I see the foundation as an extension of our culture, our community and who we are.”
Thus far, 110 Solver have participated in the service experiences. This was also the first year Businessolver clients were invited to participate in the trips, with significant interest from the client community.
“It got everyone out of Zoom and Teams calls and working side by side sorting clothes, passing out food. And that’s where real conversations were happening,” she says. “Clients came back and said, ‘OK, this is a company that is not just transactional; they’ve shown us they care.’”
The client piece will continue to be part of the 2026 model, and Clogg says she envisions the initiative going international in its next evolution.
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Culture in community
Apart from the community impact, Businessolver is already reaping the internal cultural benefits of the service trips.
Cohorts hold monthly reunion calls, Clogg says, and they come together to celebrate new babies, birthdays and to support one another through losses.
“That doesn’t happen a lot in remote workplaces—where teams form that bond,” she says. Importantly, those ties transcend the silos that often separate employees, apart from their geographic locations.
People in the member services department, for instance, are volunteering next to a company vice president.
“They’re talking to people in the company they’d never have any reason to talk to,” she says. “On these experiences, everyone is equal, there’s no hierarchy. Every voice matters.”
That structure emphasizes the inclusive culture Businessolver aims to bring to life for its employees.
And it’s a way—alongside the actual work volunteers are doing, typically with underserved and vulnerable communities—to deepen the organization’s commitment to DEI, she says.
“We want to do DEI work in a way that is not just checking a box; actually doing the work that needs to be put in and that takes learning, discussing, talking and getting our people into hard conversations,” she says. “They’re discussing topics that are tough and they’re doing it in person. We get to know each other in a really unique and special way.”
The ‘best’ is yet to come
Looking ahead, the foundation is also going to continue to work to equip participants with the skills needed to give back to nonprofit communities after their experience.
It’s work that is more critical than ever today, she says. Clogg has been working in corporate philanthropy for more than 15 years, and marks 2025 as the toughest she’s seen for nonprofits, as federal funding losses are pervasive and economic concerns impact other funding streams.
“We’re never going to be a foundation that can give out million-dollar checks; we’re just not that large,” she says. “But sometimes all it takes is a corporate partner saying, ‘What I can do is show up, activate our employees in different communities and stand by you.’ ”
The “triangle” of Businessolver employees, clients and nonprofits, she says, will be critical to driving real impact.
“If we can all get flowing together, I think we’ve yet to see the best that can come out of this.”
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