As employees of the American Red Cross we are each a staff member as well as a potential donor. By doing our part to help promote the selfless act of giving blood, we help strengthen the very organization upon which our livelihood depends – and we reinforce bonds with our colleagues.

Each of us can donate blood, encourage a surrogate donor, sponsor a blood drive or give our time as a willing EBD team member. By doing these things we automatically become a member of an elite group. We can feel the pride of knowing that our actions save lives.

The Employee Blood Drive (EBD) program is run voluntarily by American Red Cross employees in addition to their respective job duties. Currently, six teams participate in the EBD program. Each EBD Team has a team captain or co-captain and a statistician. Besides Carolinas Blood Services Region employees, other American Red Cross entities are invited to participate in the EBD program: Charlotte National Testing Lab & Testing Support, Shared Services Center, Donor & Client Support Center and Chapters.

VIE 2010 end of year gifts:

• 1-8 donation credits = Blue coffee/tea mug
• 9-99 donation credits = Black weekend garment bag
• 100+ donation credits = Red portable/tote chair

 

Employees accumulate donation credits if they:

• Personally donate
• Ask a surrogate to donate
• Sponsor a blood drive

Credits are awarded in the following manner:

• 1 credit for every whole blood donation from the employee or surrogate
• 2 credits for every platelet apheresis or red cell apheresis donation from the employee or surrogate
• 1 credit for every productive unit collected at an employee-sponsored blood drive (drive scheduling guidelines apply)

A master statistician tabulates all donation data providing monthly and year-to-date statistic results. The EBD team is chaired by a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) with another SMT member as co-chair. The co-chair will move up into the Chair position the following year. Each team also has designated sponsor mentors to assist first-time blood drive sponsors.

In addition, the team has established sub-committees within the group to manage specific activities. The VIE (Very Important Employee) Committee rewards employee participation based on the number of donation credits accumulated by that employee. The VIE Committee members also educate new staff members by speaking to all New Employee Orientation classes to encourage participation in the EBD program right from the start.

The EBD Promotions Committee is responsible for creating and managing incentive promotions throughout the year consisting of give-away items/prizes that participating employees are eligible to win. The Promotions Committee has given away gas cards, ice cream socials, lunches, dinner & movie for 2, gas grills, digital cameras, lunch totes, week-end getaways and more.

To help coordinate and manage this program, the entire EBD team holds monthly conference calls and at least two face-to-face meetings annually.

Each team has the ability to choose its own theme and activities to promote EBD.

Participation in the EBD program is purely voluntary as is the decision to donate blood and is not viewed as a specific job requirement. However, participation on the EBD team as well as donating blood personally, encouraging surrogate donations or sponsoring a blood drive may be viewed as exemplary performance during work performance reviews.