Corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves integrating social and environmental concerns into a company’s business operations on a voluntary basis. More and more businesses see corporate responsibility as essential to growing an ethical, sustainable and profitable business. In today’s world, companies want to be part of ensuring that their local communities are sustainable and resilient and many believe that as community members they have an obligation to support their local communities. Corporate or employee volunteering sits within CSR. Here are a couple of popular definitions describing Employee Volunteering:
1) An Employee Volunteer Programme is a planned, managed effort that seeks to motivate and enable employees to effectively serve community needs through the leadership of the employer.
2) Corporate volunteering is any action by an employer to encourage and support the volunteer involvement of their employees in the community, whether during work hours or in employees’ own time.
Today, many larger companies provide their staff with a day, sometimes two days or more, to engage in employee volunteering. Employee volunteer programmes take many forms, come in many different sizes and develop overtime to align with the company’s values and to meet the identified needs of the community. Some companies choose a charity of the year and engage in employee volunteering as part of this partnership, while others focus on supporting specific areas of social interest e.g. education, youth, the environment, that align with their company values, aims or goals. A number of large multinationals have a global day or week of volunteering and focus their employee volunteer efforts during this time. Many employee programmes have evolved in a more ad-hoc manner encouraging teams
to source their own volunteering opportunities. Each of these programme models have their challenges and their advantages and it is worth considering what will work best for you and for the charities and communities you wish to support.
As well as supporting the communities they serve, employee volunteering offers companies the opportunity to increase employee retention, improve employee motivation, enhance job satisfaction and enhance employee engagement. Higher levels of employee engagement are
associated with increased company performance and success. Corporate volunteering can raise the community profile of companies, enhance brand awareness, connect businesses with communities and enhance employee health and well-being & support inclusion in the
workplace. Employees report major satisfaction in contributing to a defined and valuable community need and in using their skills to work with colleagues in a new environment.
Communities and non-profits benefit from financial support along with professional expertise and human and financial resources to complete and deliver programmes and projects that otherwise would not take place. They benefit from sharing their mission and work with others and creating a shared understanding of the challenges faced in today’s society.
Companies get involved in a range of different volunteering opportunities including: beach cleans; assembling food hampers; preparing play packs and care kits for those in need; supporting charity events and fundraising activities; improving primary school children’s reading skills; painting or sprucing up a garden at a community centre; sharing professional skills and expertise; participating in a water quality blitz; setting up in-house educational, career, business enterprise, I.T. and STEM programmes; supporting the elderly; mentoring young people and so on.
