Chapter 11: Workplace volunteering

Chapter 11: Workplace volunteering

Wayne Burns

Workplace volunteering

Corporate volunteering is defined as ‘allowing staff to engage in unpaid work for a community organisation during work hours for a wider societal benefit, and for the possible benefit of the volunteer and for the corporation’ (The Allen Consulting Group 2007, 1).

The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College (Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship 2015b) states:

‘Volunteerism is one of the most common approaches companies take in making community involvement part of their corporate citizenship efforts. Employee volunteers are perhaps the greatest asset companies can leverage when trying to have a positive impact in the communities where they operate and do business.

In the United States (US) many large corporations manage and measure employee/workplace volunteering with employee workplace giving as a quantum of their employee-related business giving.

The Centre for Corporate Public Affairs (2007) concluded that business giving, known more commonly in corporations operating in Australia as Corporate Community Investment (CCI) or ‘corporate citizenship’, comprises workplace volunteering, workplace giving and community partnerships, philanthropy and strategic philanthropy.

In a report for National Australia Bank, The Allen Consulting Group (2007, 1) stated:

‘Corporate volunteering is defined as allowing staff to engage in unpaid work for a community organisation during work hours for a wider societal benefit, and for the possible benefit of the volunteer and for the corporation … Allocating staff time for community projects is becoming a key feature of many CSR (corporate responsibility) programs.’

The international literature refers to corporate volunteering and workplace volunteering interchangeably.

Peak volunteering organisations globally have been seeking to increase the number of companies that provide time during their hours of employment to engage in volunteer work for charities and non-government organisations (NGOs) (Centre for Corporate Public Affairs 2007).

Internationally the number of organisations seeking to build an evidence base around the drivers, practice and impact of workplace volunteering has grown since 2005, as has the discourse and focus on volunteering in business.

As well as individual corporations committed to leading thinking and practice in employee volunteering, NGOs, academic institutions and other entities focused on volunteering encouraged and facilitated by business include:

• 
  ALTIS Postgraduate School of Business and Society, Italy
  
• 
  Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, US
  
• 
  Canadian Institute for Business and Community Engagement
  
• 
  Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, Asian Institute for Management, The Philippines
  
• 
  Center for Social Innovation, Stanford Graduate School of Business
  
• 
  Centre for Corporate Public Affairs, Australia/Asia (corporate member-based entity conducting research and delivering executive education on practice in corporate public affairs management, including managing CCI)
  
• 
  Centre for Responsible Leadership, University of Pretoria, South Africa
  
• 
  Centrum fur Corporate Citizenship, Germany
  
• 
  Deusto Business School, Spain
  
• 
  Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility, Cranfield School of Business, United Kingdom (UK)
  
• 
  Employee Volunteering UK (an NGO focused on facilitating employee volunteering and social investment)
  
• 
  IDEARSE Centre for Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility Anahuac University, Mexico
  
• 
  London Benchmarking Group (an NGO working in Europe, Australia and New Zealand that supports members quantify their CCI, including employee volunteering)
  
• 
  Points of Light (a US-based NGO focused on facilitating volunteering, including employee volunteering supported by corporate volunteer programs)
  
• 
  Pro Bono Australia (a hub for nonprofit and charity interface with the community)
  
• 
  Vincular, Center for Corporate Social Responsibility at Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile
  
• 
  Volunteering Australia (an Australian-based NGO focused on facilitating volunteering, including employee volunteering supported by corporate volunteer programs), and
  
• 
  Volunteer Canada.
  

International context

As McGregor-Lowndes, Flack, et al. (2014a) noted, international comparisons of the rates of volunteering are difficult to establish. The same is true for comparisons of workplace volunteering from nation to nation. The literature suggests workplace volunteering has plateaued in the US (Eisner et al. 2009). Workplace volunteering as part of employee volunteering and giving programs (EVGPs) appear to be mainstream and mandatory for Fortune 500 companies (Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship 2009):

‘92% of Fortune 500 survey respondents have formal EVGPs in that they dedicate non-negligible resources to employee volunteering (having only an employee giving program does not constitute an EVGP).

Furthermore, over 90% of those very few Fortune 500 survey respondents currently lacking an EVGP report that they aim to develop one, and none said it was out of the question.

Despite this widespread acceptance of employee volunteering, the vast majority of Fortune 500 respondents have EVGPs that are not structured for high impact on society …’

In the UK the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) (2014) reported 640,000 employees of companies in the UK participated in workplace volunteering programs in 2014 and contributed 4.8 million working hours through their workplace program (see Figure 11.1).

Volunteer Canada (2013) reports that the number of Canadians volunteering has been falling; however, it does not specify if the number of workplace volunteers has also fallen.

Figure 11.1 Percentages of LBG Australia/New Zealand and global business giving by contribution category (adapted from London Benchmarking Group 2014)

Figure 11.1 shows that the majority of business giving occurs in the form of cash, followed by time or in-kind contributions and management costs, both in Australia and New Zealand and globally.

The literature from the US, the UK and other parts of Europe, Australia, Asia and South America suggests workplace volunteering is considered an integral part of business giving and CCI, and that individual companies and some centres of academic or business research are leading thinking in this area and encouraging innovation.

Peak and national organisations internationally that champion and facilitate volunteering as a social and economic good focus their efforts and research primarily on individual volunteering; volunteering via the workplace in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or corporations receive far less attention or interrogation.

There is scant reference in the literature also to national or peak business or industry associations or entities focusing their management time, resources or research into workplace volunteering.

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