From Employees to Ocean Ambassadors: Volunteering That Creates Real Impact
How employees become ambassadors for ocean conservation
What happens when employees are given the knowledge, freedom and support to champion a cause they genuinely care about?
In this episode of the Healthy Seas Podcast, DWS employees and Healthy Seas Ambassadors Luxshmy Harikantha and Leon Vosse share what employee volunteering looks like in practice. Through the longstanding collaboration between DWS and Healthy Seas, ambassadors receive training, educational resources and ongoing support to bring topics such as marine litter, ocean protection and individual action into schools, community activities and events within their company.
Their experiences show that a meaningful employee engagement programme can extend far beyond a single volunteering day. Ambassadors can shape activities around their own interests and local opportunities, collaborate with colleagues and external organisations, and build relationships with students and communities over time.
For Luxshmy and Leon, this work also provides something different from their everyday professional roles: a chance to act on their personal convictions, learn more deeply about ocean conservation and see the immediate response of the people they meet. They describe children leaving activities eager to share what they have learned and sometimes changing their behaviour, and the behaviour of their families, almost immediately.
The episode also explores what makes corporate volunteering feel genuine rather than symbolic. Time, flexibility and organisational support all matter, but so do trust and creative freedom. Employees need space to contribute their own ideas, take responsibility and adapt activities to the people and places around them.
For companies considering an employee volunteering programme, the DWS Ambassador initiative offers a concrete example of what is possible when a business and a nonprofit organisation build something together over several years. Healthy Seas brings expertise from marine conservation, education and field projects, while employees become multipliers who carry that knowledge into new settings.
The result can benefit everyone involved: communities gain access to engaging ocean education, employees find connection and purpose beyond their day-to-day work, and companies create opportunities for colleagues to come together around meaningful action.
Listen to the episode to hear Luxshmy and Leon’s experiences and discover how your employees could become ambassadors for healthier seas.
Interested in developing an employee engagement or corporate volunteering programme with Healthy Seas? Explore our partnership opportunities and contact us.
