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Advice
T
here’s no escaping corporate social and the beneficiaries, monitor the success of
responsibility these days. With the the programme and assist the company in
environment, fair trade and publicising its efforts.’
workers’ rights all high on the national
Employees
agenda, companies are falling over
themselves to advertise their CSR policies, With this kind of support, a corporate
hoping to look compassionate and cool. volunteering scheme shouldn’t eat into an
When it comes to engaging with the public MD’s time. Yet some businesses are hesitant.
on a local and personal level, however, many As Rabbi Julia Neuberger, the Prime Minister’s
businesses seem less enthusiastic. Arguably appointed Champion on Volunteering, recently
the most effective way for a company to gen- admitted, many executives question the busi-
erate goodwill and customer loyalty is to send ness case for sending employees out into the
its best assets – its employees – out into the community on volunteering projects. Beyond
community to assist local groups and charities, securing coverage in the local paper, they can-
either in teams or individually. Yet Home Office not see the value of losing hundreds of staff
figures suggest that such volunteering initia- hours a year.
tives are rare, with only a quarter of UK em- So how do businesses who support em-
ployees having access to ‘employer support ployee volunteering justify their initiatives?
volunteer schemes’, as they’re known.
Where these volunteering schemes do exist,
‘Volunteering is a great
they are hugely popular with staff – 40% of
way for our associates
workers who can volunteer do volunteer – so
it’s obviously not employee apathy that is hold-
to bond’
ing them back. Why, then, are employers drag- community where they can best promote the
ging their feet? Caroline Berry, Human Resources Executive company to potential employees. Where there
The burden
for Starwood Central London Hotels, believes are skills shortages, staff may be sent into
the company’s regular one-day volunteering schools to provide support in a relevant sub-
For smaller businesses, the main stumbling challenges are not only good for the commu- ject like IT, science or business studies. Where
block is probably resources: many MDs lack nity, but good for the employees themselves. there’s a lack of diversity in the office, staff may
the time to set up proper volunteering pro- ‘Volunteering is a great way for our associates serve as mentors to talented individuals from
grammes, or deal with the resulting admin and to bond,’ she says. ‘The community challenges minority ethnic backgrounds.
bureaucracy. allow them to enjoy each other’s company Volunteers can therefore be ambassadors,
Help is at hand, though, thanks to the grow- without thinking about who they are when trainers and headhunters, all rolled into one.
ing number of volunteering ‘brokers’ who will they’re at work. As an organisation we try to
Other Businesses
help businesses to establish a volunteering encourage all our associates to participate in
programme and serve as the go-between with at least one community project per year.’ Employee volunteering isn’t just beneficial
the local community. In these cash-strapped times, a team-build- on a personal and community level, either.
These brokers – some commercial, some ing exercise as simple as painting a school or Thanks to the explosion of CSR conferences
tidying up a park has got to be a good thing. and national initiatives like Business in the
‘volunteering increases And for those staff that are involved in more Community (www.bitc.org.uk), it’s the perfect
employees’ satisfaction
individual, one-on-one volunteering activities, platform for raising a company’s industry pro-
there are great opportunities for developing file. A 2006 survey by City of London initiative
levels’ new skills and gaining new levels of awareness City Action (www.city-action.org) showed that
about social issues and community affairs. London SMEs that implemented employee
non-profit – recognise the problems faced by Best of all, volunteering increases employ- volunteering schemes enjoyed increased net-
over-stretched executives and try to take the ees’ satisfaction levels and their loyalty to the working opportunities, since their voluntary
burden off their shoulders. ‘Our overriding aim company. A survey of staff at Barclays found work would be discussed on diversity forums
is to make employee volunteering as painless that those who had taken part in the bank’s and would open doors with bigger corpora-
as possible for managers and directors,’ says volunteering scheme were much more likely to tions that have a strong focus on CSR.
Marion Schumann of the Hammersmith & Ful- recommend the bank as an employer. Some SMEs were even able to use the
ham Volunteer Centre (www.hfvc.org.uk), a
Potential employees
experience of launching a volunteering scheme
charity which arranges business volunteering to bid successfully for not-for-profit business.
schemes and one-off community ‘challenges’ Increasingly, executives who launch em- So although employee volunteering is at its
across London. ‘We’ll do everything from pin- ployee volunteering schemes aren’t just think- heart about giving something back to the com-
pointing the most appropriate form of volun- ing about their current staff intake. They are munity, companies can get just as much out of
teering, to finding the right community groups thinking about their companies’ future recruit- these schemes as they put in. Volunteering
to work with, to carrying out health and safety ment needs, too. may not be high on the national agenda, but it
assessments of their premises. Businesses are becoming increasingly can have far-reaching benefits for a canny –
‘Once the scheme is up and running, we’ll clever at tailoring and targeting their volunteer- but caring – business.
serve as middleman between the volunteers ing programmes, sending staff to parts of the
Business Matters issue 164 • 29
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