Conducting employee volunteering in your company is a solution that brings benefits to both parties – employees and organizations. How to introduce volunteering to your company? Definitely first of all find out what help employees want to provide and what are the possibilities of volunteering. In Poland, this idea is relatively new, although in fact it originated in the United States in the 70s of the previous century. The charity of a given company is organized as part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and the social involvement of business (CCI). In the past, employee volunteering in its structures included only large corporations. Currently, there is a phenomenon of greater activity also among small and medium-sized enterprises.

Employee volunteering is an idea that is worth introducing into your company. The employer’s involvement in such activities of its employees is important, especially in the context of arranging and implementing a broadly understood corporate responsibility strategy. Helping can take many forms, but above all, you need to remember the goal. How to peel it? It is a good idea to promote activities that are of local importance. It should be remembered that in fact, in the choice of the goal, the organization is limited only by imagination. What is important – not always this type of help from the company has to rely only on a financial subsidy. Depending on the needs, a given entrepreneur may, for example, provide a room at the company’s headquarters where employees could store the collected gifts. A separate form is also competence volunteering, which reaches for the experience, knowledge and passion of our employees and directs their activities to support a noble goal. HR teams in companies can engage, for example, in activities to support the development of competences of people with difficult access to the labor market, marketing teams – use their skills to help promote the action organized by a charitable foundation. How many competences in the organization – so many opportunities to help. What’s more, companies are increasingly making it possible to take additional paid leave with such initiatives in mind.

And how else can charitable initiatives be supported? The employer can (and even should) use communication channels – both internal and external – to promote the campaign. Word-of-mouth marketing in this type of action is also of great importance. A good example is also informing about the success of the action during its duration and summarizing it in a public forum by the employer after its completion. On the one hand, it is an appreciation of the people involved so far, and additionally a motivation for unconvinced employees (and the likely impact on their greater involvement), which may translate into the development of volunteering in the organization in the future. It should be added here that joint action, i.e. joining the forces of employees and management staff, increases the field of activity and opportunities for local help. Importantly, this has a positive effect on the employee-employer relationship.

The example comes from above, and although the volunteering initiative is usually directed from employees, setting a model and in some way integrating everyone is of great importance. Through employee volunteering, you can see many hidden talents and thus new leaders, which creates the opportunity for new jobs. It is a win-win situation, because such a person is promoted in the company’s structures and feels appreciated, on the other hand, the organization expands its activities and improves in specific profiles. In addition, it is worth implementing employee volunteering activities in your company, m.in because it improves the flow of information in internal communication and improves the skills of working in a team, regardless of the position held.

Employers should pay attention to the fact that the idea of employee volunteering is not currently regulated by law in Poland. One can only refer to the general provision on volunteering – voluntary and unpaid activity of 24 April 2003, m.in on voluntary activity (Journal of Laws of 2003, No. 96, item 873, as amended) or referring to the provisions on the principles of conducting public collections. All depending on the nature of volunteering functioning in a given organization. It should bear in mind that volunteering is always a voluntary form in which not every employee has to take part. Therefore, the obligations arising from the activity of employee volunteering may not be placed in the permanent duties of employees or be a business order.

However, the company can encourage employees to engage in this process. Inspiring for employees can be, for example, meetings with external coordinators of charity campaigns or volunteers who share their stories and give motivation to help. In addition, some forms of healthy gamification can be used – from the organization of competitions for the most committed people to training to improve specific competences (e.g. foreign language courses). There is another aspect here, namely – how many employees, probably so many ideas for the purpose of directed help.

It is worth determining in advance with a group of willing goals and assumptions. If there is indecision, you can create an annual action plan and divide your commitment for different entities into quarters. This is also related to what type of volunteering will be chosen. This can be short-term employee volunteering (periodic or one-off), as well as long-term activities aimed at one goal. For example, in winter the organization is involved in helping local animal shelters and in the summer – in looking for temporary and casual jobs for the poorest families in the region.

A company that conducts charitable activities shapes its image as a socially responsible organization, additionally popularizing help among employees (and maybe also their families). Moreover, it is setting an example to other organizations and in a way creating a leadership position in this category. This also has an impact on the labor market, because a socially engaged company is an employer that is desirable especially among young generations and potential employees who want to develop their careers. In employee volunteering, it is attractive for employees to improve their skills and acquire new experiences.

We should not forget about the integrative issue of employee volunteering, which strengthens relations between employees and managers and creates values such as help, cooperation and development of personal competences. And it must be admitted that this has a direct impact on a positive atmosphere in the workplace and the creation of relationships based on mutual trust between colleagues.

One thing is certain – the idea of acting for the benefit of local communities and the environment not only unites people in a team, but also allows the organization to develop.

Source: http://blog.randstad.pl/dlaczego-warto-wprowadzic-wolontariat-pracowniczy

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.