Volunteer Mentoring – an opportunity for corporates to use volunteering time and build workforce skills and wellbeing
Volunteers’ Week (2-8 June) is a great opportunity for non-charity employers to reinvigorate their volunteering activities to support social impact.
Research carried out by Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose shows that the median employee volunteer participation rate in 2023 was 23%, so there is clearly lots of room for improvement.
And research carried out by Pro Bono Economics shows that 17-23 million people do not currently have access to workplace volunteering.
Why is this?
Much of this has to do with communication, according to research carried out by Works 4U. It’s analysis of volunteering in the UK, shows:
- 24.7% of employees did not know how much time their employer gave them for volunteering
- 28% of employees who had not participated in employee volunteering before said that their employer allows it but does not promote it
- 19% said no one had asked them to get involved in a volunteering initiative
- 94% of employees said that employers should do more to promote volunteering opportunities
- Of the respondents that did engage in workplace volunteering activities, 27% said they had to organise the opportunity themselves as opposed to their employer
- 28% of employees said that a barrier to them participating in employee volunteering practices was being too busy at work
- The survey found that most employers offered one day for employee volunteering (39%), a third offered two days (33%), 17% offered three days, 3% offered four days and 8% offered five or more
And yet volunteering is popular, with 98% of employees saying they would volunteer again with work. And nearly three-quarters (73.4%) of employees rating the impact of their employee volunteering as a 4 or a 5 (5 being the highest option).
Pro Bono Economics also points to research that suggests workplace volunteering schemes lead to better self-reported health, lower risk of depression, and higher levels of job engagement and satisfaction.
If you are a non-charity organisation that wants to reinvigorate its approach to volunteering days and to tap into employees’ demand for it, then consider joining the Charity Mentoring Network as a ‘corporate’ member. The network enables non-charity organisations to offer skills based volunteering opportunities to workers in the charity sector.
It has been designed to make it as easy as possible for corporates to sign up and open up volunteering opportunities quickly and easily with a high demand. And because it is mentoring, the time commitment is usually broken down into smaller chunks of time, say one hour a month versus traditional whole days, which can be a challenge for busy employees.
We have over 1,000 individuals on the platform so there are plenty of opportunities to mentor colleagues in the charity sector.
If you’d like to find out more then please sign up to one of our virtual coffee mornings below.