Why should employers support their staff to volunteer with charities?

Recently we have been working with a few clients on employer-supported volunteering, where an employer supports its staff to take part in volunteering opportunities, usually during work hours. These activities can be practical (such as sorting clothing donated to a local charity shop) or skills-based (such as helping with budgeting or financial reporting).

These volunteering activities, of course, benefit the charity and the people its serves and there are considerable benefits to the employer and the staff who take part, including:

• Improved employee satisfaction and wellbeing, e.g. because they feel they are making a difference in their community.

• Professional development opportunities for staff.

• Team building and stronger workplace relationships.

• Strongly relationships with the local community.

• Meeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.

It is important for employers to be clear about why they are supporting employees to volunteer in these ways and to make sure that the support extends beyond simply making time available.

Choosing the right charities to work with is also important, including alignment of values and needs/objectives as well as the types of volunteering opportunities they have available. For example, if the employer’s main focus is on building stronger relationships in its teams, then choosing volunteering activities that staff can take part in as a group will make most sense.

Matching the charity’s needs with those of the employer and its employees is essential, in particular:

• What does the charity need (skills, time etc.)?

• What does the employee want to do and get out of volunteering?

• What benefits is the employer seeking?

Agreeing some simple goals for the employee(s), employer and charity is important, including how much the employee will have access to colleagues at work who may be able to help the charity with other needs. A simple reporting/checking in system (such as regular one to ones with participating staff) will help make sure things are working, both for staff wellbeing and to capture evidence of benefits (e.g. for ESG reporting).

Getting the process right for matching staff to volunteering opportunities is also vital. For example, will the employer provide dedicated support, will opportunities simply be advertised to staff for them to respond to and organise themselves, or will staff be left to find their own volunteering opportunities? Employers can seek external help, for example from a local council for voluntary services (CVS).

Once you have agreed your approach, write it down in an employer-supported volunteering policy to ensure expectations are clear between the employer and staff who decide to volunteer. This should include:

• How charities to support will be selected and opportunities advertised or, if employees will find their own volunteering opportunities, how they can do that.

• If there are any volunteering activities the employer is not willing to support.

• The process for matching volunteers to opportunities and how requests for volunteering leave will be managed.

• Whether paid time off will be offered for volunteering and how much.

• What it means to be a volunteer and how that is different from employment.

• Any expectations of how staff should behave when volunteering.

• What to do if staff have complaints about their volunteering experience or the organisation they’re volunteering with.

• How the employer and its staff will monitor and celebrate what is achieved through employer supported volunteering.

If you’d like to know more about employer supported volunteering, there is a good guide on the NCVO website or please get in touch with us.