This week, 2nd to 8th June, is Volunteers’ Week – a once-a-year campaign in the UK which celebrates the contributions made by volunteers.
14.2 million people have volunteered formally at least once a month in the UK, and when you consider informal volunteering at least once in the last year the number rises to 25 million. The Royal Volunteer service suggests that this added £4.6 billion in productivity gains to the UK economy in 2024.
The facilitation of volunteering has become more popular in the workplace in recent years, with companies adding it to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes. Could this work for you? Let’s look at how volunteer days work, the pros and the cons.
How volunteer days work
Broadly speaking, volunteer days are when you permit employees to take paid time off to perform volunteering charity work. There are two ways in which this can normally be achieved: either by giving them free rein to choose their own activity, or for them to opt in to a company initiative which you (or colleagues) have selected.
Typically, this may be between one and six days per year, but it is up to you. Bear in mind that if you make it contractual, you will be committed to whatever it says in your contract.
When the volunteer days (or sessions) come round, you pay your staff as usual and, instead of their normal duties, they are out doing good in the community.
The choice of activities is huge. You could focus on volunteering time for a cause in your community, or carry out fundraising activities. Either of these could double up for you as a team-building exercise, something you might otherwise need to invest in separately.
Another good synergy (if you will forgive the corporate lingo) is to offer pro-bono work to charities or individuals – this utilises the skills in your business to provide potentially expensive services for free to those in need, so they can expend their resources elsewhere.
Mentorship from your employees to people less experienced is a great leg-up too, potentially opening up untapped productivity and achievement.
What is the downside of volunteer days?
The most obvious downside to volunteer days is the time and cost. It may be one thing for a large corporation to lose staff while they are off volunteering, but the strain on SMEs will often be much greater. If you are organising the activities yourself (which does come with benefits), rather than letting staff do their own thing, there will be the time and cost of organisation to factor in, too.
There may be other complications to consider as well; such as ensuring you carry the correct business insurances, DBS checks for certain roles and the general distraction to your operations.
Benefits of volunteer days for SMEs
While there is cost and distraction, it must be said that there are lots of benefits to SMEs who do volunteering days well.
- Employee engagement – As the statistics cited earlier show, volunteering is important to millions of Brits, and for younger generations, perhaps even more so. One report suggests that 53% of under-35s wish they could volunteer more; and for 18-24-year-olds, it is 60%. By offering volunteer days, you may tap into this to boost recruitment and retention.
- Positive PR – Volunteer days provide media rich opportunities to showcase you as a force for good – before, during and after the days themselves. Send out press releases, show what you are doing on your social media channels, blog, and use them as evidence in business award submissions.
- Upskill staff – Exposing employees to new and unusual experiences through volunteering is a creative way to develop them – whether it is learning a new technical ability or honing softer skills like communication, empathy and organisation.
- Fun and team building – Volunteering days are a break from the norm, injecting fun and energy into the routine. Depending on what you do, they may bring everyone together as a team and instil a sense of pride in your workforce.
- Alignment of values – If you organise the volunteer days yourself it gives you the chance to align the volunteering with your broader values and mission, creating a powerful clarity of purpose which can feed back into your whole business.
Here to help
Whether you consider them as CSR, learning and development or an employee benefit, volunteering days can play an important role in your business. We can help you plan and execute a programme that works for you. If you would like to get started, just ask us.
