Why involve employee volunteers?

Charities are now involving employee volunteers to enhance their services for the community, gain corporate know-how and specialist skills, and to have access to teams of people for practical improvements. At the same time, more employers are beginning to see the benefit of sending their staff to volunteer in the community. The result is often more experienced, skilled, happier, and committed staff.

Employee volunteering is not only about engaging individuals or groups, but the employer as well. Employers, both private and public sector, have an important part to play. Here are some suggestions for encouraging more employee volunteering in your workplace:

• Allocate resources for projects;
• Provide a time off-policy;
• Coordinate and promote corporate involvement activities;
• Get senior management approval for volunteering;
• Create wider recognition for employees who are actively engaging.

Equal partnership working between charities and employers is essential to achieve good results, but this can take time. Charities need to put in their own thinking, energy and time to set up systems and procedures to enable them to work with corporate and public sector organisations more effectively. It's also important to decide how you can best use employee volunteers' skills and time to meet your organisation's needs.

Useful resources

• Volunteering England's Good Practice Bank on employer-supported volunteering offers many resources for charities wishing to set up a scheme to involve employee volunteers in their work;
• The Complete Beginner's Guide to Employer Supported Volunteering gives advice on the important considerations for an organisation before involving employee volunteers;
• Volunteering England has also developed a new module as part of their Excellence in Volunteer Management training;
• See the attached top tips, supplied by Volunteer Centre Westminster, which offers advice on how to create suitable employee volunteering opportunities.

This article is provided by Volunteer Centre Westminster.

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