4 Best Practices of Successful Employee Volunteer Programs
Purpose-driven workers have 20% longer expected tenures and are 47% more likely to be promoters of their companies (1). Employee volunteering is research-backed, yet it’s still an underleveraged tactic for increasing employees’ sense of purpose in the workplace (2).
ADHOC VOLUNTEERING HAS LIMITED RESULTS
Part of the problem is that too many employee volunteering programs (EVPs) center around one-time events or activations, and aren’t an integrated part of the company’s social impact strategy. “One-and-done” volunteer opportunities create short-term benefits but don’t have a meaningful impact on the company, employees, or community, unlike ongoing efforts like online tutoring.
Within the most passionate Corporate Social Responsibility teams, short-term volunteer programs are evolving into movements that leverage all of a company’s resources and capabilities to deliver sustained impact.
Whether you’re a small start-up or a large, well-resourced company, building a volunteer movement is hard. Finding time and personnel to spearhead the effort is a challenge for smaller companies, while the entrenched culture and protocols within larger companies can make the endeavor equally difficult.
BUILDING STRATEGIC MOVEMENTS
We believe the effort to build a meaningful volunteer culture is as advantageous as it is challenging. The more well-established and strategic your volunteering program, the more likely employees are to take part and the bigger the program’s positive impact on your company’s social impact and bottom line. We’ve outlined some best practices below to help you create a vibrant culture of service. If you find you need additional support in growing your community’s impact, check out this resource list we compiled to support you on your journey.
4 Best Practices For Successful Employee Volunteer Programs
1. Listen
Before you can plan your first volunteering event or reach out to partners, you’ll need to co-create your volunteer program’s mission, activities, and metrics by listening to your team and stakeholder groups. Learn the causes and types of volunteer opportunities that resonate with your team through surveys, interviews, and focus groups with your leadership team and ERGs. Secure buy-in from your communications and HR teams as well — you’ll need their support in order to successfully launch the program.
2. Research
Now you can get down to vetting the social impact partners and technology platforms that you want to work with.
When selecting a nonprofit partner, invest in deeply understanding its vision, beneficiaries, and impact model to ensure mission alignment and need-to-skill match. Your research will enable you to build purposeful partnerships where your employees can deliver lasting impact through long-term volunteer engagements, skills-based opportunities, or a series of volunteer events.
Finally, draw up agreements that cover your partnership’s objectives, outcomes, and planned activities. The volunteer technology platform you select will help you host volunteer opportunities, track metrics and share messages and stories. Here’s a link with a list of some great options!
3. Launch
Once you have a plan and resources in place, you’re ready to launch your program with a few events and activations. We recommend a launch that includes one-time and ongoing volunteer engagements, to ensure more employees’ preferences are met and create the most internal and external rewards (e.g. team-building, higher engagement and greater impact). But launching a successful activation is only the beginning.
4. Share
The most important part of pulling off a successful volunteering program is capitalizing on the enthusiasm created after the event or opportunity is over.
Are volunteers excited to tell their colleagues and community about their experience? Feature volunteer impact stories on social media, in your newsletter and provide the platform for volunteers to share their stories on your internal messaging platform and all-hands meetings. Survey volunteers on what went well and what could be improved, so you can make constant improvements to the program.
Finally, track your metrics on a monthly basis and report on them in company collateral and communications.
Final Thoughts on Employee Volunteer Programs
Looking for a corporate partner with a proven track record? We hope you’ll consider UPchieve as a social impact partner!
Partnered with everyone from small tech companies (like New Relic) to large Fortune 500s (like Goldman Sachs, Verizon, and Dell), we provide ongoing support and thought-partnership to help you create and meet your targets. Learn more about how we partner with companies around employee engagement.
REFERENCES:
(1) “The Future of Work: Creating Purpose-Driven Organizations.” IRC4HR, 28 Dec. 2015, https://irc4hr.org/how-important-is-purpose/.
(2) 2017 Deloitte Volunteerism Survey Final Updated. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/about-deloitte/us-2017-deloitte-volunteerism-survey.pdf.