Corporate volunteering

Ann · June 2002

I am interested in implementing a corporate volunteer program in our office. Does anyone have any advice for me. For instance, if we make it voluntary, should there be rewards for participating? If so, suggestions, please. What types of organizations are good for group volunteering? How can we approach our employees about the benefits of volunteering for them and for our company?

Any suggestions would be extremely helpful.

Thanks!

jules2001 · June 2002

We had the United Way come and give a presentation on everything that they do for our community and about 90% of our employees now have at least a small amount of money taken out of each check through payroll deduction that goes directly to United Way. If you cannot do payroll deduction, they took checks at the time of presentation or the employee can be billed on a regular basis. United Way also talked to the employees about different volunteer programs that are available throughout the year. United Way gave us 2 big boxes of chocolates to give away in a drawing to everyone who donated. You could also consider a blood drive through Red Cross...

Ann · June 2002

Thanks for the input. Actually I am looking for an activity that would improve comraderie and invoke team spirit within the workplace without "digging in their pockets". I thought volunteering for an organization that requires many people would enhance this spirit, not to mention that we would be serving the community as well. I need to find out when implementing a program such as this, what works and what doesn't work. Is it a good idea to include families for instance? Should we take a poll and let them select one organization that they would like to sponsor, or should the committee select it?

Thanks.

bsa · June 2002

You're looking for something like Helping Hands. They do repairs to houses owned by senior citizens or handicapped persons who can't do their own painting, plumbing, etc.

Or maybe an equistrian center for the handicapped, they always need supplies and people to groom horses and clean stalls.

Then there are homeless shelters and centers for abused women and children. They can use food, clothes, personal hygiene products and willing hands to sort the stuff and pass it out.

I would give the employees a choice to participate or not, and what they would like to do.

Don D · June 2002

I'll play devil's advocate here, just for the sake of the conversation. Employees typically do not overwhelmingly approve of employers socially engineering the work environment. Although your intentions are commendable, it has been my experience that people prefer to choose their own personal involvement activities and the types of diversions they find personally rewarding. I think the company should perhaps post such things (with absolutely no limitations on type of group or activity) on bulletin boards or in company newsletters or have in a guest speaker quarterly for 15 minutes, but should draw the line at choosing or suggesting company preferences for the employees' 'enrichment' activities. If you decide to proceed with it, be especially cautious about personal agendas, volunteerism that reflects the CEO's personal favorites and choices that tend to be exclusionary.

moneyman · June 2002

We used to have a "reward" program in place for community service (of their own choosing), however, we found that it didn't matter if we recognized employees for their efforts because they either did it or not anyway. We decided to go with the company projects instead. We found that we have more participation if we work as a group and the group gets to decide what we want to do. If you don't want to participate in a particular project, you don't have to.

Our holiday season is the busiest. We mainly focus on projects involving children. We have gone to local volunteer groups, schools, and other organizations like Boys/Girls Club and Big Brothers/Sister in identifying children and families to "sponsor". Sometimes our projects involve nothing more than a little of our time, spending time with kids (we have even gone into the youth detention facilities), and sometimes it means a little dipping into the wallet for a party, christmas gifts, paying a utility bill etc.

Every year, anyone can make a suggestion of new projects, or keep the old ones etc. We have a lot of fun with it and I think that it is as good for us as it is for the ones we help.

jules2001 · June 2002

Another possibility could be something like Harvester's or another group where employees could choose to bring in canned goods, or whatever that group needs. Perhaps you could even make it a fun competition by putting the employees into teams.

Corporate volunteering

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