The Main Benefits of Corporate Volunteering Summarised

Corporate volunteering is a fantastic way to give back to your community, but a lot of companies don't know where to start when it comes to organising this kind of corporate social responsibility. is it even worth it? Will you be able to show a return on investment to your boss? Is it even the best way to make a positive impact? Will your team use the volunteer opportunities?

Well, we're going to answer all those questions and more in this article! We'll go through all the different benefits that corporate volunteerism can have for both employees, as well as for you the company.

Here at Matchable, we specialise in matching employees or teams with the perfect volunteer work for them based on their individual skills, availability, and passions - We have 1000s of innovative, largely remote volunteer programs on our platform, all of which contribute to at least one of the UN's Sustainable Development goals! (In other words, we know a thing or two about corporate volunteering 😉).

So let’s go over all the reasons why it might be worth implementing for your business…

What Is A Corporate Volunteer Program?

Briefly explained, a corporate volunteer program, or 'employee volunteering' is a kind of CSR that encourages, and provides opportunities for employees to volunteer their time to charities, non-profits, or social-impact organisations in their local community or worldwide.

It's often provided to employees as a benefit (For example, your employer might offer 2 paid days volunteering a year).

Why It's Beneficial As An Employer

By encouraging their teams to give back, businesses not only show that they not only care about creating a positive impact, but they also start to build a stronger culture of shared values.

This purpose-driven approach to business ('business for good' if you like), isn't just about ticking a corporate social responsibility box - volunteering has tangible benefits for the company too like a more engaged workforce.

ATTRACTING TOP TALENT

Candidates are looking for roles and businesses that align with their personal values. Whether they care about fighting climate change, helping the homeless, or creating green spaces in their local community, they're now searching for employers that provide the opportunity to do so in a meaningful way.

An effective corporate volunteering strategy can help organisations to attract, and engage a workforce at the top of their respective fields. The top candidates will be receiving multiple offers from the best companies, so if you're keen to attract the cream of the crop, you need to compete with by providing a selection of truly valuable employee benefits. Corporate volunteerism is a benefit that more and more employees are looking for.

EMPLOYEE RETENTION

We've spoken about attracting new talent, but what about retaining your team and reducing employee turnover? Well, corporate volunteer programs can definitely help with that too!

With more and more companies moving to a hybrid or even fully remote approach to working, and therefore less in-person check ins, the wellbeing of your staff has never been more important. Building a shared purpose in your company, and giving another avenue for employees to work together and do 'feel good' work is one of the best ways to boost staff morale and keep them happy.

With the 'great resignation' sweeping the globe at the moment, building a stronger sense of community can help you more easily retain younger, more socially engaged millennial employees.

IMPROVED EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Too many employers are wasting money on out-of-date solutions when it comes to growing a team of engaged employees.

There are a lot of employee benefits out there, and employers (and their staff) can quickly become overwhelmed and end up not using any of them anyway.

Traditional, old-fashioned corporate volunteering just doesn't work like it used to. From start-ups to global enterprises, employers are slowly realising that organising 100% in-person, manual labour volunteering like fence painting or gardening isn't always possible (0r easy).

Plus, the positive impact you're actually creating from this kind of volunteering is typically much lower (and you're limited by how many days out of the office you can allow).

At Matchable, we're reimagining how you approach creating a corporate volunteer program, by matching employee volunteers with charitable projects perfect for them based on their skills, interests, and the time they have available. This way employees don't need to be put off by the idea of committing to lengthy projects that mean travelling far from the office.

We match you in minutes with a selection of volunteering activities perfectly suited to your skills, all online, and available on-demand when your schedule allows it! There's a reason our employee engagement rate is over 54%!

UP-SKILLING

Skills-based volunteering can create the perfect opportunity for employees to develop skills in their area of expertise in a new environment, or even learn something completely new.

Not only does this often lead to your team honing their skills, but it can often shine a light on talent you hadn't originally considered for a leadership position.

CREATING REAL IMPACT

Corporate social responsibility is a growing interest in the business world, and there's increasing pressure from the public for businesses to operate sustainably.

An employee volunteer program is one of the best ways to create real positive change through your work, and track that impact.

Giving corporate volunteering benefits to your team provides many charities, perhaps even in your local community, access to highly-skilled volunteers for free! It's truly a lifesaver for struggling causes. Just think about about how beneficial all of your team giving even just 2 hours a quarter could be to these organisations!

On average, the impact value created from 'traditional' volunteering is around £13.20 per employee. But when compared to skilled, mainly online volunteering like on the Matchable platform, we're seeing an average impact value of £1,920 per project 🤩

Id you're heading up the HR department, or managing sustainability and the office in your company, then an online volunteering platform could provide you with a proven way to engage employees in charity work, all from the comfort of their desks. On many platforms these days you can also see clear statistics on the number of hours volunteered, the causes supported, and even the return on your investment in the form of impact value created by hour volunteered.

That mean you have clear takeaways and stats to report back to your boss on how effective it's been.

Why It's Beneficial For Employees

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

When employees volunteer, they get the chance to use their area of expertise to help others, while also potentially learning something new themselves by applying their knowledge in a completely new setting or industry.

This often leads to a increase sense of worth for employees. Maybe a sales executive will get the chance through volunteer opportunities to show their boss they deserve a promotion by creating an entire sales strategy for a global charity that needed support.

Or maybe someone working in the finance department could do a budget review for a climate change organisation! The possibilities are endless with remote, skilled, corporate volunteering.

EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES

Corporate volunteerism can increase employee engagement for a reason...It makes for a happier, more fulfilled workforce!

Giving your team a clear ways to create meaningful impact for causes they are passionate about can help them feel far more valued in the company, and also forge personal bonds between internal team members that maybe hadn't worked together before.

By providing them with hands-on volunteering opportunities, and the ability to select their own projects, you help them to develop a stronger sense of pride in their work, often leading to a more efficient team.

How To Get Started With Corporate Volunteerism

So, to summarise...what's holding you back?? 🤨 Giving employees with paid time to volunteer is a powerful way for companies to invest in their employees' personal and professional growth, while also hitting their CSR and ESG goals.

A strong volunteering programme can enable employees to develop new skills, and build a feeling of accomplishment in their own work, while also helping you the employer through increased employee retention, positive PR/media coverage, and opportunities for team building.

Encouraging corporate volunteerism is our mission at Matchable, and hopefully we've concisely outlined all the reasons why it's so important! The many benefits laid out above are easily and quickly achievable through an online solution that takes hours to set up.