Employee volunteering
The Social Market Foundation has launched a paper entitled "Giving Something Back - Business volunteering and healthy communities", which highlights the benefits of volunteering to the individual, businesses and society.
It provides a strong business case for employee volunteering. The paper highlights research by BUPA, which shows that one of the key ways to encourage people to volunteer is to give them the opportunity to be formally recognised for the work that they do with an award or qualification, for example an NVQ.
Stakeholder Response: BUPA
A BUPA spokesperson said: "All businesses have a responsibility to the communities in which they operate. This assertion was echoed by the small and medium sized business community in research we conducted with Populus, which showed that 72 per cent of managers in SMEs think that their business has some responsibility to the wider community.
"Employee volunteering is promoted in BUPA, as it is a fun and motivational way for our staff to contribute to their community and the wider society and we recognise the value of volunteering to the local community, the individual and the business. BUPA allows employees time off to volunteer through our Community Connection programme.
"Our research shows that one of the key ways to encourage people to volunteer is to give them the opportunity to be formally recognised for the work that they do. BUPA believes that the best way to do this is by organising an award or qualification – for example an NVQ – in volunteering that recognises the skills volunteers gain from their activities. Larger companies could help smaller companies facilitate any training required for their employees by such a scheme. In addition, a nationally recognised training scheme would provide volunteers with the skills to enhance their social contribution and careers."
Stakeholder Response: GamCare
Peter Cox, managing director of GamCare, said: "Companies should not think they have a responsibility to the communities in which they operate.The word responsibility gives the impression companies are doing it for reasons of conscience and may not be doing it willingly.Surely it makes sound business sense for companies to be involved in a local community so that they develop a high quality local reputation. This in turn will create a favourable image in the community to help attract and retain staff or volunteers.
"The principle of letting employees have time off to volunteer is laudable but in many cases may not be a practical proposition. The majority of
"It may defeat the object if some companies recognise volunteering by rewards. It may be better for any formal recognition to be organised and planned by the staff themselves. Volunteering is all about individuals having a passion to do something usually for no financial reward. Recognition by colleagues will be of more value than if it were from employers. The employers role should be to facilitate the processes that allow staff to make volunteering something they own and value amongst themselves. Going back to my first point the simple fact that employers feel it is right as a company policy to be more involved in their local community will in itself pay back dividends for companies in a variety of ways.
"For a charity like GamCare it is important that volunteers add real value and do not just make up the numbers. Willing but unproductive people do not really help. Our requirements on services and accountability are now no different to commercial organisations therefore gone are the days when volunteers can just walk in the door and muck in. Volunteers must be treated just like paid staff in terms of training, health and safety requirements etc so the whole approach to volunteering must be carefully thought through from employer, staff and recipient organisation.
"This does not mean there is no case for volunteering. It can be a motivating factor and a valuable resource from several angles but there is a need to understand the position from a number of perspectives before embarking on a programme."
Stakeholder Response: Beating Bowel Cancer
A spokesman for the Disabilities Trust said: "The Disabilities Trust welcomes any new initiative to provide a boost to corporate volunteering and fundraising by
"We hope too that the team themselves gained something from this volunteering. While such efforts may appear to be small-scale they do make a real difference to quality of life of disabled people who have complex and profound impairments. For our part such volunteering work is always gratefully received - especially if it makes money!"
Stakeholder Response: Forum of Private Businesses
A spokesman for the Forum of Private Business said: "The Forum of Private Business believes that small businesses have a responsibility to their communities and indeed do partake in community activities. Think of the number of parish council members, school governors and other volunteers that are drawn from the local small business community, not to mention organisations such as Rotarians, Lions and local round table members that do sterling work for local causes. Not only do they take part in community activities but it could be argued that their very existence is itself a community asset providing work for the local community.
"Generally the small business owner is pushed to the limit just trying to keep the business afloat, so it's difficult to find the time over and above the examples above for them to release employees or themselves to help out local causes. Also as small businesses often have very few employees the scope for them to release key workers for voluntary duties is naturally less than their larger competitors and this has an impact on the amount of time that they can dedicate to community activities.
"Formal recognition of community activities is perhaps unnecessary as it overly formalises and adds a bureaucratic element to what is basically a fulfilling and altruistic activity.If anything the honours system is a far more appropriate arena through which to recognise the contributions of small business owners and their staff to the communities in which they operate. Many are of the opinion that those who currently receive such honours, life-time civil servants, political party donors and celebrities don't really deserve the accolade while many who do phenomenal work in local communities are too often unrecognised."
Stakeholder Response: Pfizer
A spokesman for Pfizer said: "All companies have a responsibility to contribute to the communities in which they operate. Corporate responsibility is not an add-on, but is the bedrock and foundation across the whole of Pfizer, it is just the way we behave and do business. Pfizer plays an active role in making every country and community in which it operates a better place to live and work. Getting our staff involved in community schemes is one way we can encourage every member of the company to play a part, bringing significant benefits and partnerships to both employees and the community.
"It has been shown by research and experience that employee volunteers are significantly more likely to feel pride about their workplace. Volunteering has also been shown to have an impact on motivation, skills development, team working and likelihood of staying with the company.
"Volunteering at Pfizer has a long history and the company encourages volunteering as part of its commitment to the community as well as being a responsible company. Staff may take up to five days per year community volunteering time (subject to certain criteria).Pfizer will be actively promoting volunteering to all of its staff across the
"Volunteers should also be recognized. This could be linked into an individual's training and development needs, goals and objectives. Any recognition would then be clearly linked into the annual appraisal."
Forum Response: Princes Trust
A Prince's Trust spokesman said: "Volunteers have a powerful influence on the success of our programmes and on the young people they help. Ask the volunteers and they'll tell you the feelings are mutual. Being part of a large charity gives volunteers the chance to meet people of different abilities, circumstances and backgrounds and gain nationally recognised qualifications. It also helps them develop links with the local community and develop their own skills. For employers it helps create a more flexible, multi-skilled workforce.
"Volunteers have helped us support over half a million disadvantaged young people since The Prince's Trust started in 1976. Without their help we wouldn't have been able to give these young people the chance to turn their lives around."
