Employee Volunteering

Private enterprises and employers have always engaged with their communities and supported charitable activity, doing much more than just donating funds. Indeed many charities have been founded by business people and the experience and skills of professionals who choose to volunteer is often at the heart of charity governance and operations.

What's newer is companies and employers explicitly developing volunteering strategies and policies. More corporates are explicitly including 'employer-supported volunteering' as part of their HR strategy and ESG/corporate citizenship, adopting a volunteering policy and designating a period of paid time for employee volunteering. Their motivation is often to show commitment to causes of importance to employees and other stakeholders, to boost local relationships, be part of creating positive impact in the community and to attract and retain purpose-driven employees (especially younger people).

This relationship between private companies and not-for-profit organisations can be a wonderful experience all round and create fantastic partnerships and impact:

• charities and community groups gain from the engagement of skilled and experienced employees
• individuals enjoy their volunteering experience, broaden their experiences, feel happier, healthier and more connected to their community
• companies gain through motivated employees who have new experiences and enjoy being part of a company which is supporting positive change in its community.

Some statistics illustrate this: the economic value of employer-supported volunteering was placed at £800-1300 per volunteer/year (ProBono Economics based on HM Treasury Guidance) with it leading to nearly a full day per year reduction in sickness/absence per employee, according to our friends at Go Volunteer Glos.

They have prepared a very useful guide to employer-supported volunteering, with guidance for both employers and non-profit organisations. It highlights what to consider and provides lots of useful tips for preparing your strategy and designing your approach to make the most of this opportunity for fruitful partnerships. Remember that where they refer to 'Go Volunteer Glos', you have the same possibilities through us at GoVolHerts! Volunteering is a personal choice and can provide great personal meaning and satisfaction. By signposting employeers to the huge variety of roles available through GoVolHerts, employers can encourage their staff to find a volunteering opportunity in line with their own passion and in which they can gain maximum benefit. You can also search GoVolHerts for group opportunities by refining your search of opportunities suitable for groups/teams.

Another advantage of volunteering via GoVolHerts is individuals can keep a record of volunteering activity hours on their profile, which is endorsed by the organisation they volunteer for. This can help employers to track the overall activities of employees (with their consent!) and to see the bigger picture of how they are having an impact in the community.

Many local companies and charities are already partnering to make the most of corporate volunteering and we hope you'll consider joining them very soon.