Any Volunteers?

Motivated, productive volunteers are essential to the success of many community groups and charities who rely on this essential workforce. Great organisations recognise and value their volunteers and work hard to keep them engaged.

Yet according to corporate volunteering experts Benefacto – many employees are not taking up the volunteering opportunity offered by their companies. In Benefacto’s latest survey (2018) they discovered that 11 million people are offered paid time off to volunteer but less than 20 percent actually participated. This means that charities and community groups are missing out on hours of valuable help and support.

So how can you engage your employees and motivate them to get involved?

1.Organise some great opportunities

Be creative with your volunteer days. Make them an event by adding in an employee get together to celebrate the team’s achievements. Add an element of mystery to the days – just advise on suitable clothing and take them by surprise!

2.Up skill and learning

Mastering a new skill is a fantastic way to enthuse the more hands on volunteers. There are plenty of other ways to add to your employees’ learning and many charities are happy to add in a workshop or demonstration as part of the volunteering day.

3.Get the Boss involved!

There is some anecdotal evidence that employees don’t take up their volunteer days because they think they are not beneficial to the business and may even affect their workload. Any meaningful company volunteer scheme should be led from the very top and the benefits to the company team, individual and of course the charity made very clear.

Ignite PR & Engagement can help and advise with volunteering schemes as part of your community engagement. Contact us for a chat!