Volunteering: Putting the 'S' in ESG
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. It’s a set of criteria for businesses that indicate their commitment to more than just profit - and one that’s becoming increasingly important for investors, shareholders, employees and customers.
What is ESG criteria?
In the last decade there has been a dramatic shift in the global perception of business and its purpose. Once governed exclusively by monetary value and financial gain, the post-pandemic world of conscious consumerism has ushered in another era - the era of ‘good’ business.
With an increasing focus on environmental and socio-political issues, alongside a new, values-led workforce, it’s unsurprising that businesses are restructuring their approach to internal and external issues - and reaping the benefits.
ESG is the latest of many strategies that look to hold organisations accountable for their impact; epitomising the idea that companies need to be doing more than generating a profit to attract investment, talent and customers.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance.
Environmental refers to things like a company’s carbon emissions, consumption of resources, waste management, water pollution, etc.
Social refers to how a business interacts with its employees and clients, as well its local and global community - including gender and diversity practices, health and safety, mental health support, community involvement and employee well-being generally.
Governance refers to the practices and policies around effective decision making, including the company leadership, shareholder rights, legal compliance and transparency of monetary transactions.
Why are ESG strategies important?
In the current business climate, ESG strategies and others like them are more important than ever - dramatically improving a company’s ability to attract and retain investment, talent and customers.
Investment in recent years has aligned with global trends around sustainability and ethics, and investors have started putting their money where their values are. Moreover, public tolerance for unethical business practices is at an all time low and, with scandals such as BP’s Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill devaluing BP stocks by over 50%, companies with strong ESG practices are looking increasingly appealing to investors.
As a result, socially responsible investing (SRI) has increased so much that by 2025, ESG investments are estimated to represent a third of all money invested globally - totalling over 50 trillion USD.
Similarly, ESG policies are becoming increasingly important for attracting and retaining talent. With the pandemic exposing the possibility and plausibility of remote/hybrid working, prompting employees to reflect on their work-life balance and resulting in ‘The Great Resignation’, business practices have never been more employee-driven.
A high salary is no longer enough - a large majority of the global workforce now want to know that the organisations they work for are concerned with more than just profit. They want to feel valued and supported; they want flexibility, transparency and purpose. They want to work for a ‘good’ business that cares about employee wellbeing.
Employee ESG Volunteering: Putting the ‘S’ in ESG
With companies striving to meet the requirements of their investors and the needs of their employees, the last decade has given rise to a crucial aspect of ESG, CSR and Employee Benefits policies - Employee Volunteering.
Jeff Hoffman, a renowned business-man and the mind behind Disney’s volunteering scheme - VoluntEARS - said this about corporate volunteerism:
“Employee Volunteering acts as a bridge - a bridge between company interests and employee interests, a bridge between the company and the community, and often a bridge between different functional areas within a company.”
Volunteering opportunities and Employees
With more and more employees naming ‘purpose’ as a deciding factor in job decisions, corporate volunteering programmes offer the perfect means to provide employees with purpose and fulfilment. With platforms like Matchable tailoring volunteering to the individual’s unique interests and values - be it biodiversity, gender equality, equal education, mental health, etc - every volunteer stands to gain the sense of fulfilment that comes from working towards a cause they’re personally aligned with.
According to research conducted by Deloitte in 2017, over 70% of employees said that volunteering opportunities ‘improved their sense of purpose’, whilst 77% said that volunteering was ‘essential to employee well-being’ and contributed to a more positive working environment.
In addition to this, skills-based volunteering provides employees with opportunities for leadership, growth and mentoring. This ability to up-skill employees through volunteering is invaluable to employers - increasing their value to the company, improving their confidence and increasing the amount of internal hiring and promotion.
In short, if you’re looking for a way to improve employee wellbeing and boost employee engagement, volunteering is a very powerful tool to help hit your corporate social responsibility goals.
A study conducted by Yorkshire Building Society found that 82% of its staff who volunteered reported increased relationship building and teamwork skills; 72% felt they developed better communication and influencing skills, and 74% saw an increase in confidence at work.
Volunteering and the Community
Employee volunteering also addresses the ever-increasing need for businesses to interact positively with their local community, and to tackle pressing social and environmental issues.
Regardless of the industry in which a company sits, volunteering gives it the ability to positively impact a variety of sectors and causes which internal policies and practices would otherwise fail to touch.
This ability also has a huge impact on retention and employee loyalty - a recent study found that 87% of employees had an improved perception of their employer after volunteering through them, and 82% felt more committed to their employer and workplace.
Whether employees are counting plant and animal species for the day to support biodiversity and conservation, or developing the financial strategy for a small charity helping disadvantaged children to go to school in Madagascar, volunteering provides employers and employees the opportunity to really connect with the local community and also global issues - truly affirming their status as ‘good’ businesses.
The 17 UN SDG’s and their significance in ESG criteria
ABOUT MATCHABLE
At Matchable we work with companies and their employees to match them with high impact and innovative skilled volunteering projects at non-profits and impact startups. Whether you’re looking to do your bit in the climate crisis, or simply make a difference in your local community, we have the perfect charity days for your corporate volunteering.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how your employees can upskill through our social impact projects, get in touch here.
