Employee volunteering is volunteering that is supported by your employer, either in work time or outside of work hours.
It's a great way of helping local communities, building teamwork skills and providing rewarding volunteering experiences for employees. And it's fabulous for people who want to volunteer as a group.
In 2001, in England and Wales, an incredible 7% of the population volunteered through employer-supported schemes.
A 'challenge' is a practical task that helps out a local community organisations, like painting a hall, clearing a river or creating a children's playground. Challenges can provide a good taster for those new to volunteering and brings practical resources to community organisations who may not have the resources to do it themselves. Challenges are also excellent for teambuilding.
These are short placements in community organisations for either individuals or teams. Projects are clearly defined and meet the development needs of the employee or team - usually focusing on the skills of project management, confidence, negotiation and communication. Development assignments are a proven vehicle for improving skills and teambuilding.
Mentoring provides the opportunity to develop the interpersonal skills of coaching, listening and motivation through one-on-one relationships. Volunteers can mentor:
Already well established in the US, this approach enables volunteers to work at their desk on behalf of groups in the UK, overseas and on the web. Examples include: web research; email mentoring or 'listening' chat room or newsgroup supervision. Virtual volunteering is helpful if volunteers have limited time as they can keep in touch via email or phone.
Using your professional skills to assist voluntary and other organisations such as small businesses can be particularly rewarding. Valuable projects can be started with an injection of professional help e.g. helping put together a funding bid, drawing up a strategic plan, doing architectural drawings for a new community centre, and giving free legal advice.
Volunteers, often bringing professional or managerial skills, can serve on school boards or on the management committees of voluntary or public sector organisations. This enables them to experience the strategic management of a whole organisation. Board membership offers high community visibility and gives good experience in management, decision-making and developing strategies and policy.
Visit www.employeevolunteering.org.uk to find out more about employee volunteering:
