Innovation

The business innovation, iOnHunger was created by Protiviti Consulting as an initiative to combat the UN Sustainable Development Goal Zero Hunger. It benefits the business in many ways, including being a positive impact on work culture and bringing awareness of the company to future talent. The initiative is embedded in the business, incorporating various types of meal events with employees during training sessions, collaborating with clients and hosting events within the company’s challenge schools and local offices. The initiative is very important to Protiviti as it directly relates to its company values. Protiviti President and CEO Joe Tarantino has big plans for the future of iOnHunger. During the interview when asked how many meals he believes the initiative has given out, he stated, “We set a goal to give 1 million meals and were able to achieve this in the first year.”

The initiative, iOnHunger consists of creating meal-packaging events at training schools and client events, to bring all employees and clients together pushing towards eradicating World Hunger. iOnHunger partners with organizations that can provide food and a distribution network so that the events can be successful. An important aspect of the initiative is that Protiviti tries to interject fun into all events by having a DJ. The company keeps the events innovative and spontaneous to maintain the high level of energy. Over time, this initiative has spread to participation in local offices and most recently, collaborating with college campuses such as St. John’s University. Tarantino notes that having iOnHunger partner with college campuses has really raised their profile as a company to college students. He says iOnHunger “has not only raised our profile on campus, but I think the students and the potential recruits from the university may look at us in a different way because of our commitment to serving the community as well as doing great consultant work”.

Inspiration

iOnHunger is an initiative started by Daniel O’Keefe and his inspiration for iOnHunger was based on many aspects. Daniel O’Keefe comes from a large family; he is one of fifteen children. Although he and his siblings were fortunate enough to grow up without hunger, Daniel always sympathized with the struggle of hunger and poverty many around the world face.

O’Keefe is a Managing Director (MD) in Chicago and he has always been a part of the conferences held for MDs by Protiviti. During these conferences MD’s participate in events for social causes and community impact. For Protiviti’s ten-year anniversary, a small meal packing event was held. During this event the MDs and their spouses packed meals for various communities. The energy was palpable and people really felt that they were making an impact. O’Keefe and a few of his colleagues discussed how they can implement meal-packing across the board in Protiviti. Hunger has always been a cause close to O’Keefe’s heart. This is where the seed for iOnHunger was planted.

During the early stages of implementation of iOnHunger, O’Keefe oversaw the Loyal Clients cornerstone initiative. Loyal Clients is an initiative created by Protiviti to ensure client satisfaction. During his time as the Loyal Clients lead, O’Keefe created a unique client experience. He wanted Protiviti to differentiate itself from the competition. With iOnHunger, O’Keefe was able to emphasize the greater good and create a unique experience for his clients. O’Keefe knew he wanted the business to focus on giving back to the community while building lasting relationships with clients. The event O’Keefe planned was one that would engage all Protiviti offices around the world. It was important for O’Keefe to emphasize that hunger worldwide issue and affects those of all backgrounds, especially the most vulnerable.

Overall impact

The first event was kicked off in Chicago’s Navy Pier in 2015 and approximately 20 to 25 clients attended. This group of people packed 50,000 meals to send all over the world. After this event, it was proposed to the executive team that a similar event be conducted in every office. Protiviti’s goal for the first year was to pack 1 million meals. Protiviti surpassed their goal, packing 1.6 million meals in that first year.

The impact of iOnHunger on Protiviti’s business had been extremely positive. It has improved company culture by creating camaraderie between employees. It has also allowed clients and employees build trust and lasting relationships. Furthermore, iOnHunger events are great team building exercises. New employees and trainees gain from these events because they are able to become better team players, and impact their community. Lastly, Protiviti has received various accolades for their efforts to eradicate hunger with iOnHunger.

iOnHunger’s impact on society has also been positive. One of iOnHunger’s most palpable accomplishments is that they have fed 5,000 people around the world every day for three years. Since its inception, Protiviti’s iOnHunger has led to over 5.5 million meals being provided to the hungry. Protiviti’s CEO firmly believes that providing meals vastly improves society and the community because it allows children to focus on other things. Children are able to focus on education once their nutritional needs are met. This is a very important aspect of iOnHunger for the CEO. Overall, iOnHunger provides thousands of meals to people around the world on a daily basis and this small effort makes a big difference in the lives of those who receive it.

Protiviti has various goals for iOnHunger in the coming years. In line with the United Nations goal, Protiviti would like to help eradicate hunger by 2030. They also hope to continue meal packing and maximize their efforts doing so. They would like to involve interns and incorporate iOnHunger into their training schools much more. They also wish to host more local events and provide new activities to keep clients and employees engaged. They are also focused on making a sustainable impact and have begun brainstorming how to successfully do that.

Business benefit

The business benefit of iOnHunger is the twofold. The business benefit has a dual nature because iOnHunger affects both the business structure of Protiviti, as well as the work culture. The business structure is benefited because of the initiative being ingrained into the way that Protiviti operates as a company and has made the company better. The work culture also has a positive business benefit because through this initiative, a light has been shined on an issue and because are taking an active role which will become the norm.

Social and environmental benefit

Benefiting society is the basis of iOnHunger. As stated above iOnHunger is a program for the purpose of solving the issue global hunger. Since that is the purpose of the program it is clear to see that iOnHunger is beneficial to society through providing meals to people in need.

Interviews

Joseph Tarantino, Chief Executive Officer

Daniel O'Keefe, Managing Director