Does paying your employees to volunteer in the local community really pay off?
Volunteer Time off (VTO) is an employee perk that has gained momentum since taking off in 2018 and doesn’t look to be tailing off any time soon.
But, according to research conducted by employee experience organisation Perkbox, more than 63% of UK employees do not receive any paid days off to do volunteering work*. This certainly begs the question, should more UK companies be using VTO more actively in delivering their Corporate Social Responsibility practices?
With the spotlight on Corporate Social Responsibility ever increasing, more and more companies should be actively allowing their employees to give back, not just to the wider community, but also to local causes that matter to them.
Furthermore, organisations should also be explicitly advertising the fact that they offer this as part of their recruitment strategy by including it in job advertisements for example.
Why?
Well, when you consider that the UK workforce will continue to be dominated by the Millennials, it’s easy to then understand. Millennials, despite a reputation for being achievement-orientated and ambitious, also have high expectations of their employees as well as having a strong sense of purpose and social justice. Attracting these purpose-led candidates, and more importantly, retaining them, is a challenge but one easily met by a company’s public commitment to offering VTO.
And with more constraints on personal time for employees, volunteering can often fall off the list of priorities therefore affecting people’s social consciousness. If companies are able to help their employees fill this void, they are not only fulfilling their own CSR but also supporting their employees in fulfilling their sense of purpose and making a real change which can ultimately contribute to overall employee satisfaction and retention.
So a win for employees, your company and society as a whole- maybe the real question is why wouldn’t you?
For more advice on posting job advertisements that attract quality candidates, contact Absolute.
