Fall 2016

Your Employees on Service

By: Tanner Hafen

Sustainability and social responsibility have become increasingly important values in the business world, and businesses have to find ways to incorporate them to stay relevant. Many companies have done this by instituting Employee Volunteer Programs or EVPs. These are “planned, managed efforts that receive funding and personnel from a business to motivate and enable employees to volunteer.”1

Benefits of EVPs

EVPs not only increase a firm’s social responsibility, but also affect their current and potential employees in tangible ways.

Leadership Development

Volunteering can give employees the opportunity to develop leadership skills like listening, doing things in new ways, directing others in work, and motivation.

Skills Development

One study found employees who participated in EVPs believe that they gained valuable skills including improved communications abilities, resource development, organizational capabilities, problem solving, and public speaking.2

Networking

Networking opportunities that come from volunteering can bring many opportunities to employees and companies. An excellent example is a Bank of America employee who went from part-time to vice-president by participating in their volunteer program.3

Recruiting and Retention

Millennials are the new workforce, and 97% of them think companies should provide service opportunities to employees.4 Employees are also more likely to stay at a company when their employer provides “substance and meaning”; EVPs are an excellent way to do this.5

Productivity

A study done at Boston College surveyed several companies, and found that 89% of them observed a positive correlation between participating in an EVP and higher engagement in their employees.6

What You Can Do

An Employee Volunteer Program tailored to the goals and strengths of your company can be a valuable asset, but your employees are your most valuable asset, and an EVP has the potential to attract and retain great ones, increase their skills, and make them happier and more productive in the work place.

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*Read the full article here.(Your Employees on Service)

Works Cited

  1. Brenner, Bryan K. 2010. “Instituting Employee Volunteer Programs as Part of Employee Benefit Plans Yields Tangible Business Benefits.”Journal of Financial Service Professionals 64 (1): 32-35. https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=47591772&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
  2. Brenner, 33.
  3. Wong, Nancy. 1999. “Volunteer Program is a Springboard for Career Advancement.”Workforce (10928332)78 (7): 88. https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=2035504&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
  4. Brenner, 32.
  5. Ibid.
  6. “Research Confirms Business Value of Corporate Community Involvement Activities.” 2016.Corporate Philanthropy Report31 (1): 1-12. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cprt.30061/abstract.

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