Chief People Officer Jill Domanico Broyles shares how Submittable’s commitment to CSR helps build connection and loyalty among its workforce.
By Debbie Bolla
HRO Today: What’s the biggest challenge you are currently facing and what are your plans to overcome it?
Broyles: One of the biggest challenges I anticipate facing in 2025 is maintaining organizational clarity in a distraction-heavy environment. With rapid changes in technology and increasing demands for workplace flexibility, it’s easy for teams to lose focus on core priorities. Ensuring alignment and engagement will require clear and open communication, as well as consistent reinforcement of how individual roles contribute to organizational goals.
In 2025, I plan to regularly communicate our company’s key priorities and equip leaders so they can highlight how each member of their team is connected to our mission. Another key aspect of maintaining organizational clarity will come from leveraging tools that streamline workflows, reduce inefficiencies, and encourage focus.
By fostering collaboration and empowering our staff to navigate distractions, we can create a sustainable environment of engaged employees who align with our company goals.
HROT: How are you integrating corporate social responsibility(CSR) initiatives into your overall company culture and employee experiences?
Broyles: We’re prioritizing integrating our own CSR products into Submittable’s culture because we’ve seen firsthand how they have enhanced our employee experience and built camaraderie.
Last year, we introduced volunteer time off (VTO) to give our staff the opportunity to support causes they’re passionate about during work hours. We also host monthly volunteer events, and those have been a great way to build connections among colleagues through meaningful experiences outside of the office. These efforts help make volunteerism a natural part of our everyday culture.
We’ve also designed our workplace benefits to reflect our commitment to creating a positive impact. Employees receive an annual giving perk to support a cause that matters to them, and we’re developing a company donation-matching program to further amplify their contributions. For the holidays, we’ve moved away from traditional company-branded gifts, reallocating that budget to provide each employee with a donation credit to support a nonprofit of their choosing—a meaningful way to celebrate while reducing environmental impact.
When we embed these practices of generosity and giving into our culture, we align with our team’s values and show the potential of social good in action.
HROT: What benefits are you seeing from it?
Broyles: Especially as we attract more mission-driven talent, we’ve seen how having a strong CSR initiative makes a big difference. Today, employees not only seek meaning in their work, but our team specifically values being part of a company that’s trying to make the world a better place. Giving staff the opportunity to volunteer and donate has been a great way to build our company culture and foster employee engagement in a way that feels natural and sustainable.
While things like happy hours are fun, we’ve found that volunteer events and giving campaigns create a much stronger sense of connection. They bring the team together in a way that feels purposeful, and these events naturally improve collaboration because everyone’s working toward something bigger than themselves. I think most people want to make a difference in their communities. Our employees have expressed that desire; we are simply providing the tools and resources to help them do so.
HROT: What are you currently binging and what is your favorite way to spend free time?
Broyles: My current favorite way to spend my free time is reading. Otherwise, I enjoy spending time with family and friends and prioritize getting outside to recharge. I am currently binging Shrinking on Apple TV and have three books going:
- “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins;
- “The Power of Culture” by Laura Hamilton (It is truly a perfect time for this book and I feel fortunate I have worked with Laura in the past during my time at Microsoft!); and
- “The Women” by Kristin Hannah (book club book).
