Employees are five times more engaged in companies with employee volunteer programs.
In today's corporate environment, a culture of employee volunteerism becomes a strategic imperative. As businesses increasingly recognize the impact of social responsibility on brand reputation, community relations, and employee engagement, there's a call to action to motivate the workforce to volunteer. It's never been as urgent a calling as it is now.
How can you encourage employee volunteerism and inspire and empower your employees to make a difference in their communities along the way? The "how" of employee volunteerism often becomes the sticking point for organizations, but it doesn't have to be.
What Is Corporate Volunteering?
Also known as corporate volunteerism or employee volunteering, corporate volunteering refers to a scenario where employees engage in community service, often during work hours or as part of initiatives sponsored by their employer.
There are different formats and approaches to employee volunteerism, including:
- Employee volunteer days: The organization might allocate certain days or hours so their employees can volunteer.
- Skills-based: In this situation, an employee shares their professional skills to help community or nonprofit organizations. The tasks that fall under the umbrella of skills-based employee volunteering include legal advice, financial planning, or IT support.
- Team projects: Companies will sometimes take the approach of organizing group volunteering activities. Teams of employees work together on projects.
- Pro bono work: A company might encourage employees, particularly those with specialized skill sets, to provide free services to disadvantaged communities or nonprofits.
There are many different approaches to an employee volunteer program, and some companies might use all the strategies above or a combination.
Business Benefits of Corporate Volunteering
When employers encourage employees to volunteer or give back to the community, there are business benefits that include:
- Improved employee engagement and morale: When your employees volunteer, it fosters a sense of personal fulfillment and pride. That can contribute to higher levels of job satisfaction and boost morale. When your employees are engaged, they're likely to be more productive, motivated, and loyal to the organization.
- Increased collaboration and team building: Employees can bond with coworkers outside the traditional work environment. Participating in projects that have them working toward a common goal can improve workplace relationships and team communication.
- Professional and personal development: Volunteering can help employees develop new skills to apply in the workplace, such as project management and leadership. They can also experience personal growth, making them a more valuable asset to the entire company.
- Positive company reputation: Having employees who volunteer is a demonstration of your company's support and commitment to social responsibility and community engagement. You can enhance your reputation and increase brand loyalty.
- Recruitment and retention benefits: A robust corporate volunteering program can serve as a perk for prospective employees. Also, when you have employees who volunteer, they feel a stronger connection to your company, reducing your turnover rates.
- Networking: As employees volunteer, it means they're interacting with people from different backgrounds within the community. The connections can expand the company network, strengthen existing partnerships, and open up new opportunities for your business.
- Innovation: Employee volunteerism can expose employees to new environments, challenges, and perspectives that can inspire their sense of innovation and creativity.
The conversation of employee volunteerism often overlaps with Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR refers to the commitment of a company to operate responsibly and ethically and make positive contributions to the environment and society.
The benefits are substantial, but how do you get your employees to participate in volunteering? That becomes a challenge in some cases, but a formalized program and approach can be the answer.
Creating a Formal Employee Volunteer Program
While you might already offer some encouragement for employees to volunteer or get involved in the local community, formalizing it is going to have its unique advantages.
When your employee volunteerism program is formalized, it gives clarity and structure. There's consistency in the organization, implementation, and evaluation of all volunteer activities. This can increase employee participation because it raises awareness, promotes opportunities, and generally makes it easier for employees to get involved. Having clear communication and easily accessible resources is a great motivator.
As you formalize your program, you can align the volunteer efforts with your company's values, strategic objectives, and goals. You are reinforcing the importance of both social responsibility and community engagement as you integrate volunteerism into your company culture.
Formalizing the program is also going to allow you to identify and then prioritize the opportunities that are likely to have the most significant impact on the community while aligning with the expertise and resources of your company and employees.
How to Get Your Employees to Volunteer
There are a lot of specific strategies you might use or a combination of approaches to encourage your employees to volunteer.
Understand Challenges and Barriers
An excellent first step to promoting employee volunteerism is understanding what the barriers are because then you can tailor efforts to overcome those specifically. Examples of common obstacles to getting employees to participate in corporate volunteer programs include:
- Time constraints: Employees often already feel overwhelmed with their workloads, family commitments, and obligations in their personal lives. You want to make it as easy as possible for employees to balance their work responsibilities with volunteering.
- Lack of awareness or interest: Employees may need to be made aware of volunteer opportunities, or if you have a current volunteer program, they might feel they need to be more passionate about the causes that it includes. Focus on publicizing your volunteer program and also helping employees get involved in things that are aligned with their interests. Asking for feedback and input is helpful here.
- Perception of inconvenience: There may be a misconception about volunteering that it's just one more inconvenience, especially if it requires travel or getting involved in something outside an individual’s comfort zone. Make volunteering convenient for employees. Some of the ways to do this are discussed below, such as offering a couple of days a year for paid volunteer time.
Once you understand the obstacles that are specific to your employees in more detail, the steps below become more realistic to implement.
Lead by Example
Senior leadership and managers should be active participants in volunteer activities. They need to visibly support the volunteer program because this is going to send a message to all employees that giving back is valued within the organization. It's also going to show that it's encouraged at every level, setting a positive, motivational example.
Offer Paid Volunteer Time
Paid volunteer time off is sometimes called VTO. Employees have dedicated paid time off that they can use to volunteer for causes important to them. This might be a day or two a year. By offering VTO, you're demonstrating the value that the company sees in volunteering as part of work-life balance. It takes out some of the barriers like time constraints or financial concerns.
Provide Opportunities During Work Hours
Organize volunteer events like community service projects during standard work hours. When you integrate volunteering into the workday, then employees can participate, and everyone enjoys the benefits, but they don't have to sacrifice personal time. It's more convenient and critical for increasing participation rates.
Match Employee Volunteer Hours
You can set up a program where, as a company, you match the donations or volunteer hours of your employees. This is an effective way to incentivize employees to participate in volunteerism because it makes their contributions more impactful. It also highlights the commitment of the company to support the charitable efforts of employees, encouraging increased involvement.
Recognize and Celebrate Achievements
Recognition is motivational across many scenarios in the workplace, and volunteering is no exception. Celebrate your employees who volunteer. You can do this through awards, internal communication, or newsletters. It's effective because the public acknowledgment of employees' volunteer efforts reinforces a culture of giving back and appreciation.
It's motivational to encourage individuals to keep up their volunteer work, and it can serve as an inspiration to other people to get involved.
Provide Skills-Based Opportunities
Consider offering volunteer opportunities leveraging the expertise and professional skills of employees. Skills-based volunteerism lets employees make a meaningful impact using their skills and talents. This helps promote satisfaction and engagement. There's a double advantage for the employer in that your employees are simultaneously strengthening their job-based skills.
Create Teams or Committees
Employee-led volunteer teams or committees can take on a proactive role to organize and promote activities. Volunteer committees create a sense of ownership among participants and foster teamwork. When there's encouragement from a dedicated volunteer team or committee, it empowers employees to take initiative and collaborate on projects, as well as driving engagement.
There’s also a go-to source for anyone who has questions about volunteering or wants to learn more. The committee becomes the key point of contact.
Provide Training and Support
As an employer, if you want to encourage employee volunteerism, you can offer training sessions and resources. These help employees identify opportunities to volunteer, develop relevant skills, and learn about social issues.
With training, employees gain in-depth knowledge about the specific things they can do to make a meaningful impact in the community.
Final Thoughts
Formalizing your employee volunteer program can maximize the impact of efforts, strengthen employee engagement, ensure volunteer work is aligned with company values, and enhance your reputation as a business. A formalized program provides a framework for consistent commitment to community engagement and social responsibility.
If you're unsure where to begin, we encourage you to read our "Guide to Creating a Corporate Volunteer Program." We highlight the specific steps to put into action to formalize your program and encourage employee volunteerism.
