SB Case Study: Little Bits of Good at eBay

Little Bits of Good at eBay
July 15, 2014
eBay recently shared their success with Little Bits of Good in a SB Collaboratory call. Little
Bits of Good is a digital platform built on WeSpire (formerly Practically Green), a mobile and
online application that assists companies in promoting CSR practices among employees.
Four months into the rollout of Little Bits of Good, the results are exceeding expectations with
12% participation globally, as well as some other big wins.
J.D. Norton, Global Manager of Social Innovation Employee Engagement at eBay, discussed his
team’s success with the platform. Susan Hunt Stevens, Founder and CEO of WeSpire,
commented on how eBay has benefited from utilizing a highly customized version of her
company’s product.
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Overview
eBay’s Social Innovation team mission is to utilize “disruptive Social Innovation” to succeed as
a business while engaging employees in sustainable activities that help surrounding
communities and the planet. In particular, the Employee Engagement group aims for 80/40
Social Innovation engagement by 2015: 80% of employees know about the Social Innovation
team’s work and 40% are actively involved.
In addition to furthering eBay’s CSR mission, Little Bits of Good has helped connect eBay’s
34,000 global employees in a collective effort to improve the world. As Norton says, “How do
you connect somebody in Omaha with somebody in Germany and actually show that they really
are working on similar things and making an impact together? When they’re taking small
actions and there are lots of little things, they can start to feel like they’re not making much of
a difference, but when you add them all together, they see that thousands of people taking the
same actions together add up to make a huge impact.” The platform helps eBay and its

employee’s track individual and company-wide progress, seeing the difference that every little
step can make.
Little Bits of Good launched in November 2013 with 3 overall goals:
 10% (3,000) of employees using the platform
 Increased employee awareness of eBay Inc.’s Social Innovation work
 Employees recruiting colleagues to use the platform and more employees interacting
with one another around this work
Alignment in the Design
eBay worked with WeSpire to design a platform that inspired employee participation while
staying “on brand” and promoting Social Innovation goals unique to eBay. They created 60+
custom actions and projects, focusing both on education and action to increase Social
Innovation awareness and participation. They also introduced a competitive aspect to the
experience, grouping company teams by geographic region. Hunt Stevens noted that other
companies have assigned teams based on department, role, or other factors.
Incentives
Little Bits of Good rolled out a 3-week-long launch with strong communication strategies and
a plethora of incentives to encourage employee participation.
Incentives were “on brand” and directly related to Social Innovation pillars of
environmentalism, giving, fundraising, and volunteerism. As a Grand Prize, one employee
received the chance to participate in one of eBay’s Habitat for Humanity trips to Brazil, China,
or India. Other incentives included Patagonia and StubHub prizes, and a virtual “lunch” with an
eBay executive.
Employees can also unlock achievements or virtual “badges.” Some achievements are
collectible, such as a “Social Innovation 2013” achievement. Employees are also encouraged to
ask their coworkers how to earn various achievements on their profiles.

Results
Little Bits of Good has exceeded goals:
 12% employee engagement within 15 days, and growing; the goal was 10%.
 Number of actions per person per quarter more than doubled to 24; it started at 10.
88,000 total actions so far.
 17,504 gals water (625 bathtubs), 21,549 lbs waste (10 dumpsters), and 263,502 kWh
energy (300 homes for a month) were saved.
 Employees encouraged coworkers to participate and treated this new platform as a new
internal social network of sorts by fully utilizing the “like” and commenting functionality
within the tool.
Employees provided “amazing numbers” of positive feedback on the platform, says Norton.
And other teams in the company are interested in incorporating the platform with their own
work, such as introducing the platform to new hires and college recruits on day 1 of
employment.
Best Practices
So, why did it work?
A strong communications plan: The team boldly decided to launch with an email to all 30,000+
employees at once. Hunt Stevens says, “I think that made a huge difference in terms of getting
a real engaged group of people on in the beginning, so that it created almost a flywheel effect
of those people then recruiting others.”
Creative incentives that stay true to eBay’s mission: Hunt Stevens also emphasized
maintaining intrinsic motivation when using incentives: “Ongoing engagement is what drives
impact.” She noted that other companies have used bonuses or credits as incentives.
Customized platform and content: In addition to creating custom projects and activities, the
team resolved to use photographs of eBay employees, instead of stock photos, on marketing

and communications materials. “People like being made heroes,” Hunt Stevens says. Rotating
content and photos on a regular basis has kept the platform fresh and continually engaging for
employees.
Support from leadership: Communications and marketing content featured supportive
remarks from executives like CEO John Donahoe and SVP of Corporate Communications Alan
Marks. And beyond encouraging employee engagement, the leaders themselves participated
in the platform. “There needs to be that follow-through… That little bit goes a really long way,”
Norton says.
Recommendations
Having implemented WeSpire platforms for 20+ companies, Hunt Stevens had additional
advice for success.
 Recruit champions geographically. Activities and projects can also be customized based
on geographic region.
 Set up a yearlong plan for content and marketing. This allows the platform to include a
variety of customizations according to the time of year and the company’s CSR goals.
 Continue adding or featuring new content or project types. Employees will want to
continue engaging in dynamic, fresh content that keeps them inspired.
 Promote social network integration to build visibility and continued participation.

SB Case Study: Little Bits of Good at eBay

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SB Case Study: Little Bits of Good at eBay