Celebrating one year of Micro Focus INSPIRE

December marks the first anniversary of our corporate social responsibility (CSR) program Micro Focus INSPIRE, a milestone that coincides with International Volunteer Day on 5 December – bringing together a celebratory opportunity to recognise the positive impacts we have made around the world over the last 12 months.

Across all our locations, from Santa Clara to Sydney, Micro Focus employees have volunteered over 1,300 days in last year to help deliver and support hundreds of projects and causes – making a difference in the lives of thousands of people of all ages and from all areas of society.

Guided by our social purpose to help equip communities with the right skills to be successful in their digital lives, Micro Focus INSPIRE aligns our efforts to help achieve impactful outcomes, from providing basic education in developing markets, to helping to develop advanced digital skills and improving social mobility.

Supporting our communities during COVID-19

This year, many employees used their volunteering days to help our local communities, ensuring no one is left behind. We collected, cooked and delivered food to those most vulnerable; made hundreds of face masks for essential workers; helped schools prepare for digital learning; established community volunteer networks; and contributed creative solutions to help local charities impacted by COVID-19 continue their work.

Together we’re embracing virtual volunteering

We’ve seen volunteering transform from in-person to virtual. Over the last eight months, around 80% of the volunteering we have done has been virtual. Here are a few of the ways we’ve given back, and continue to do so, virtually:

• Employees in Italy and Bulgaria were among our first two teams globally to embrace virtual volunteering. Employees helped schoolteachers get connected and set up so they could deliver daily online lessons to their students.
• In Israel, employees introduced innovative ways to connect digitally with people who were isolated, especially elderly people.
• Micro Focus Australia employees held their first virtual fundraising event – a “Battles of the States” virtual quiz – to raise funds and have fun. They smashed their fundraising target!
• In China, employees embraced sustainable living by reducing their environmental impact and growing “virtual” trees which are then converted into real forests.
• In the UK, the team transformed it’s in-person flagship volunteering program – Hi-Tech Horizons – to be fully virtual. This has expanded its reach, and in the last two months employees have virtually connected with more than 1,000 school students.