Employee Volunteerism

By Green Plus on December 7, 2011

What It Is

Employee volunteering is the basic idea that “employees perform work in the community with some form of support and/or encouragement from their employer.” There could be several variations on this theme including:

Employee Volunteering- employees take part in volunteer activities through their workplace. Employers value, encourage, and support these activities, but the activities are employee-driven and conducted on the employee’s personal time.

Corporate Volunteering- volunteering is conducted through a formal and organized process by the employer, and takes place during work hours.

Employer-Supported Volunteering- a range of employer support for employee volunteerism, but generally, volunteer activities are incorporated into the workplace and employers are involved. [1]

Why It Matters

Many employers find that nurturing volunteerism in their organizations leads to improved corporate environments, as well as increased employee satisfaction.

Employee volunteerism can also help your organization to:

Create opportunities for team-building
Strengthen loyalty to the organization
Improve company bottom line. 64% of surveyed executives said that corporate citizenship provides a tangible contribution to the company bottom line, while 84% of executives at large companies saw direct bottom-line benefits. [2]
Advertise and strengthen relationship within the community
Become more involved in overcoming social problems

Employee volunteerism is a critical part of corporate citizenship. In 2003, 33% of companies, and 85% of large corporations had an employee volunteer program implemented.

Employee volunteerism can also help employees to:

Improve employee skills, morale, and productivity
Increase interaction of employees to other sections and levels of the company
Increase fulfillment and add variety to an employee’s day-to-day routine [3]
Gain experience working with different constituencies
Help relieve stress-related symptoms
Increased knowledge of social patterns [4]

Companies with engaged employees can have tremendous benefits for the company, including:

26% higher revenue per employee
13% total higher returns to shareholders
50% market premium [5]

Getting Started

First, identify what obstacles could be in the way to starting an employee volunteer program. Lack of resources has been cited by 46% of companies surveyed as the primary obstacle to corporate citizenship. This lack of resources can be felt the most deeply by small and medium sized companies that have limited budgets. [3]

Consider offering release time or flex time to your employees, so they can volunteer with organizations in need. Release time provides employees paid time off to volunteer. Release time policies vary from company to company, ranging from 10 paid hours each month to one paid day per year. For more information on release time policies see this sample Volunteer Time Off Policy. Flex time allows employees to adjust their schedules to accommodate volunteering. However, unlike release time, it does not financially cover employees’ volunteer time. An additional option is to provide a company-wide volunteer day, which can provide team building and employee interaction. Volunteer days are also a great opportunity for improving public image. [6]

Make sure to recognize employees who volunteer so that they stay motivated and excited to continue to volunteer. This is an aspect of employee volunteers programs that is often forgotten. For ideas on how to recognize volunteers see Volunteer Recognition. [7]

Going Further

To go further, try implementing a dollars-for-doers grant program in your organization. Dollars-for-Doers (DFD) supports employee volunteerism, matching employee volunteer hours with corporate cash contributions. Your organization can add a DFD policy in addition to or instead of a matching gift policy. Please see Dollars for Doers Program Description and Benefits for a sample template of the program. [7]

Case Study

In 2009, Burt’s Bees, a natural personal-care company based in Durham, North Carolina, launched their “Live the Greater Good” program. This program required all of Burt’s Bees employees to volunteer at least 8 hours, and up to 30 hours, per year. After the first year of the program, 97% of employees had participated in the program. Corporate social responsibility is a core value to the company, and they believe they are accountable and responsible to a range of stakeholders, including the community. Burt’s Bees has partnered with Teach for America, the Triangle Land Conservancy, and Habitat for Humanity, among others. Burt’s Bees also holds a yearly “Culture Day” in which company-wide employees participate in a special project, including building a neighborhood playground. [8]

Resources for More Information

Links

Volunteer Match is a non-profit online service that helps people find local volunteer opportunities by location, interest area, or keyword.
The London Benchmarking Group Model (LBGM) is a tool that measures and reports employee volunteering using a comprehensive input/output matrix. The matrix consists of a list of employee volunteer activities and inputs or resources, including in-kind, cash, and volunteer time. It also includes outputs like community and organizational impact.
Community Business’ Employee Volunteer Guide provides a 7-Step Framework, draws on international experience, and includes case studies.
The HandsOn Network helps companies to volunteer within their community by providing the design, development, and management of employee engagement projects.
Inc.com delivers advice, tools, and services to help business owners run their businesses more successfully. This article looks into how some companies are using volunteer programs to strengthen their corporate cultures.

Videos

Measuring the Value of Volunteerism: Practical Techniques and ROI Benchmarking Results, a webinar presentation by Volunteer Match.

Conclusion

Employee volunteerism can have tangible benefits for your company, the employees, and the community. You should examine whether your company should provide a set block of volunteer hours per year or a dedicated company-wide volunteer day.