The Benefits of Corporate Volunteering
The benefits of corporate volunteering
11 January 2023
As businesses focus on their ESG strategy, they may be compelled to engage in corporate volunteering as part of their effort to support communities, as well as HR efforts to increase employee engagement. Corporate volunteering means that employees undertake volunteering during paid working hours. With the cost-of-living crisis and the climate emergency being such pressing issues, there are many worthy causes to get involved with. This blog will go through the benefits that corporate volunteering can have on businesses, employees and the community, as well as highlighting key questions to ask yourself when implementing it into your business.
Benefits
Although some companies may be wary at first about letting staff spend time on non-work activities whilst they are being paid, the benefits of corporate volunteering are worth it!
Corporate volunteering can boost employee’s happiness levels, with some studies showing that 80% of employees felt happier from volunteering activities. It can also help with employee’s sense of purpose, which makes them four times more engaged at work than those who do not feel purpose through their job. This is therefore also great for the company itself due to a more involved workforce. Moreover, employees can improve their soft skills, such as time management, communication, public speaking, teamwork and adaptability. Additionally, it enhances employee work ethic, since in the UK, 36% of people said that they would work harder if their company had a positive impact on society.
Not only does it help with existing employee engagement, but also with future recruitment. In the UK, 44% of people prioritised meaningful work over a high salary, so being able to show positive impact through corporate volunteering can help attract talent.
Furthermore, customers are also more likely to engage with the brand if it undertakes corporate volunteering. Data in Australia showed that when consumers became aware of a firm’s corporate volunteering programme, they associated it with strong corporate social responsibility, which has been proven to increase customer loyalty and brand awareness through recommending it to others.
Perhaps most importantly, the communities themselves benefit from extra support. Employees often have specific valuable skills which the charity can benefit from for free. In addition to gaining volunteers, they also built connections with firms which is associated with increased donations.
Considerations when Incorporating Corporate Volunteering
What type of volunteering is linked to your purpose? You may already have a charity that you support through donations, which you could ask for volunteer opportunities. Some organisations support charities with a clear link to their business – for example Waterstones has a book trust to get children reading, and Sainsbury’s has established food donation partnerships across its stores. Even if there is not a thematic link, you can find a charity in line with your core values as a company, specific Sustainable Development Goals that you focus on, or specific ESG targets that you want to achieve.
How much time do you want staff to volunteer for? This will depend on your resources as a company. In general, companies that offer corporate volunteering tend to designate 8-40 hours of volunteer time off annually per employee.
What does your community need? There is no point choosing a charity that aligns with your company if they don’t need volunteers. Some charities will also have preferences about the type of volunteering, for example they may require longer term volunteers who can build up specific skills and knowledge. Therefore, if you were planning to organise a shorter volunteer programme for you employees, you may prefer to find a charity that undertakes short-term projects.
What do your employers want and what can they offer? Communicating with employees beforehand can be useful to see if any of them have particular causes that they want to support, or know of organisations that need volunteers. Additionally, research suggests that most employees participate in corporate volunteering for altruistic reasons, and that if they believe in the cause, they will be more engaged with it. It can also be beneficial to consider what your employees want to offer as their volunteer service. Do they have skills in management, finance, marketing that could help a charity? Would they prefer to get involved with manual tasks?
Are you on the same page as the charity? It is a good idea to discuss openly with the charity or organisation that you plan to volunteer with, so that you can both know what to expect in terms of goals and desired results for the volunteer work.
‘When corporate groups come together and work collaboratively, they can make a huge impact in their local community. Sometimes it can be hard to comprehend the impact of your work in day-to-day working life… The beauty of volunteering and working with colleagues to help improve our communities is that the results can be tangible and immediate.
With so many volunteering opportunities out there, engaging with social groups, schools and local people to understand their struggles is an essential step to being able to maximise the impact an organisation can make. We love seeing our clients get HandsOn and work with us to build fantastic new facilities for communities across the UK… and the results are always rewarding!’
- ESGmark® Community Member: HandsOn