A report by Works4U reveals a 5-fold increase in employers organising employee volunteering from the year prior to the pandemic lockdowns to the year ending March 2023. The UK Employee Volunteering survey of almost 550 employees from companies across sectors, reported that 51% of employers organised employee volunteering in 2022-23 compared to just 10% in 2019-20.

Despite this dramatic rise, the report suggests that employers are not keeping up with demand from employees. 94% of those surveyed said they should do more to enable staff volunteering, including more support from managers. Alongside this, MPs from across major political parties have been calling for more support for volunteering, including introducing a right for employees to ask for paid leave to volunteer and a requirement for employers to allow reasonable time off for Trustee duties.

The Works4U report highlights benefits of employee volunteering and recommends that employer supported volunteering should be treated as a business a usual activity, with more support through resources, training and time off. In particular, staff surveyed reported very high levels of satisfaction with employer supported volunteering (98.4% said they would volunteer with work again and almost three quarters rated the experience as a 4 or 5 out of five).

The report also highlighted barriers to employer supported volunteering including:

• Lack of interest, promotion or organisation from employers.

• Being too busy at work.

• Lack of training and resources to support them.

• Reluctance on the part of line managers.

• A focus on staff fundraising rather than volunteering time.

• Lack of understanding of the benefits and impacts of volunteering.

From our work with Clarion Housing Group, we have seen substantial benefits for both employees and charities from employer supported volunteering, in particular when offering practical, specialist skills (e.g. in finance, HR, business skills etc). Therefore, it won’t come as a surprise to read that we’re a fan. For the employer it boosts staff morale, supports staff recruitment and retention and enhances reputation (including ESG benefits). For staff it brings a sense of achievement and satisfaction and fulfilment. And the benefits to the charities who participate are substantial, helping them get new finance systems installed, overcoming HR challenges, clarifying thinking on strategy and business plans and increased fundraising.

If you haven’t considered this form of volunteer yet, we strongly encourage you to do so.

To find out more about how we can help your charity or community organisation, please contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to arrange free initial telephone discussion.