Volunteering helps employee engagement

In this age of corporate social responsibility an increasing number of companies are engaging in charitable works.  Whilst traditionally this may have involved the company involved donating money to aid the cause of their choice, increasingly this involves the company aiding employees who wish to undertake voluntary work.

Companies like IBM, Microsoft and Cisco are some of the leading lights in corporate volunteering, and they are open with their expectations of benefits to their bottom line.  With the Big Society in full swing no doubt this issue will take on added importance in the lives of the UK workforce.

German research supports the idea that allowing staff to do good deeds away from the office helps their performance in the office.  Eva Mojza and colleagues from the University of Konstanz identified a number of features of voluntary work they propose could give psychological benefits.

For instance they believed that volunteering helps us to switch off from the usual office grind, aiding mental recovery.  It is something we freely engage in, thus makes us feel useful.  It involves additional social contact and provides opportunity to learn new things.

To test this they surveyed a number of German people that were in work and volunteered at least one day per week.  They provided ratings on the psychological variables of detachment, needs satisfaction and mastery experiences.

Selfless people = happier people

The researchers found that the volunteers felt more connected to others, competent, and in control of their lives after volunteering. Equivalent effects were found for psychological detachment and mastery experiences: volunteering helped to shrug off workplace concerns and gave opportunities to meet challenges.

These benefits also carried through into their work the following day.  The volunteers were found to be happier at work and were better active listeners.  It proved particularly effective at cushioning the stresses of office life.

So in addition to all the add-on benefits of improved branding, attractiveness to new recruits and so on, corporate volunteering makes employees happier and more productive.  How do you develop a corporate volunteering program?

Steps to creating a corporate volunteering program

1. What interests your staff?  The first step is to find out what is of interest to your staff.  Use this to direct your volunteering efforts.
2. Liase with the community.  Once you know the area you will work in, contact some local non-profits to see who could use some extra hands.
3. Set goals.  Treat this like any other project.  Create goals you wish to gain from the program and monitor performance.
4. Enjoy it.  This is meant to be fun, so enjoy yourselves.

If you'd like some extra info then this whitepaper might be what you need.

Do you have a corporate volunteering program at your organisation?