Pro Bono PR Consultant to BITC’s Give & Gain Employee Volunteering Day
If employers took a poll among staff, they would probably be surprised by the number involved in volunteering work. The 2009 study by the Institute of Volunteering Research showed 87% of local volunteer centres had seen an increase in enquiries about volunteering opportunities. According to YouthNet’s study, 1.9 billion hours of volunteering contributes £22.5 billion to the UK economy.
There are many benefits to volunteering including expanding contacts, making new friends and gaining new skills and experiences that increase confidence and employability. A 2005 YouGov’s survey showed that 44% of business leaders linked employee volunteering to staff retention, 36% to recruitment of high calibre graduates and 28% to employee training. It also showed that employees actively engaged in community programmes are more satisfied in their work, with 85% saying their perception of their company had improved.
Volunteers tend to feel strongly about the cause they support and employers can harness this passion by integrating employee volunteering into their business strategy. Even in an employers’ market, competition for the best staff is high and employers compete on more than salary. A company’s reputation is important to job seekers and they expect to receive training. While volunteering is not a substitute for formal training, it can be incorporated into staff development plans to build team work and leadership skills. Many volunteering projects involve both team work and leadership roles so volunteers strengthen these skills.
Many companies run their own employee volunteering schemes, but as corporate social responsibility has increased in importance, more companies are turning to organisations like Business in the Community (BITC) because they can provide resources, help and advice on developing a structured programme. This involves championing the concept of employee volunteering within the organisation; selecting projects and promoting them to encourage staff to take part; looking at how volunteering fits with employees’ development plans; tracking volunteer hours and gaining feedback from the community groups being supported. Management can assess how volunteering is benefiting both the community and the organisation in terms of its reputation; staff performance, recruitment, retention and morale.
Each year Business in the Community (BITC) runs a national employee volunteering event – Give & Gain Day – which gives companies the chance to get involved in a community project. This enables companies to try employee volunteering and, if they decide to continue afterwards, to gain support with developing a volunteering programme.
Last year 4,300 employee volunteers from 208 companies in 43 towns and cities across the UK took part in Give & Gain Day. Participants include major corporations, SMEs and public sector organisations. This year’s Give & Gain Day takes place on 9 July and BITC is aiming to have 6,000 volunteers helping on projects as diverse as building reading gardens at schools to companies running open days for students. To learn more about Give & Gain Day visit www.bitc.org.uk.
Althea Taylor-Salmon, MD, Golley Slater Public Relations Cambridge
May 21st, 2010
