After a considerable decline during the pandemic, more employees participated in workplace volunteer activities in 2023 as companies offered more options and time-off for volunteering, according to a study from the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP). With #GivingTuesday upon us, it’s the perfect time to acknowledge the benefits — or perhaps the necessity — of empowering employees to do good in the greater community.
And more than 60 percent of surveyed employers have built charitable opportunities into their business models, as the study highlights several positive trends in post-COVID years, including an overall increase in employee volunteer participation, more opportunities for group volunteering and an increase in virtual and in-person volunteering.
Those on the receiving end of volunteerism are not the only ones that benefit from corporate-sponsored charitable work. Companies that have volunteer programs see dividends on multiple fronts, including:
- Improving recruitment and retention: One study found that a company’s employee volunteer programs influence how applicants perceive their values will integrate with the company’s and how companies will treat their employees. Job seekers will more likely want to be affiliated with a company that has volunteer programs.
- Increasing employee engagement: Volunteers tend to be better colleagues and coworkers. They’re much more likely to help others, voice ideas and be more engaged. Remember, workplace kindness increases how connected employees feel to their companies, improves their well-being and reduces stress plus kindness is contagious and can grow exponentially over time, so any act of kindness ripples through the workplace.
- Boost productivity: Another study showed that the more employees volunteered (even on their own non-working time), the better they preformed on work tasks. Additionally, volunteering boosts employee’s well-being, sense of purpose and their physical and mental health.
When creating employee volunteer programs, focus on:
- Volunteer opportunities that employees find meaningful (e.g., donating blankets to homeless people versus adding $2 into a jar); and
- Involve other stakeholders like board members, retired workers and customers (e.g., create an opportunity for employees and customers to work together to make blankets for a homeless shelter).
#GivingTuesday is the perfect opportunity to review your company’s employee volunteer policy, if you don’t already have one.
Eyragon Eidam, Managing Editor, CalChamber
CalChamber members can read more about California employers need to provide to employees who choose to donate an organ or bone marrow in Organ and Bone Marrow Donor Leave in the HR Library. Not a member? Learn how to power your business with a CalChamber membership.
