The Business Case for Volunteering
'In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business but is in fact the very purpose of its existence' - Mr. Jamsetji N. Tata
The Association for Volunteer Services in Beirut Lebanon, points out that 'Corporate volunteering is any formal or organized means a company uses to encourage and support its employees and retirees (and possibly their families) to volunteer their time and skills in the service of their community'. In a comprehensive review of Employer-Supported Volunteering, Darren Quirk appends the phrase "for mutual benefit" to his definition of the concept which he also calls "Corporate Volunteering": 'Corporate volunteering is about businesses supporting and encouraging staff involvement in the community - for mutual benefit'.
Employer-Supported Volunteering can take many forms, and includes a wide range of programs and activities through which companies support their employees' volunteer work in, or on behalf of, the community. These may include - e volunteering, employees spending time with the community, employees sharing their expertise in administration, finance, personne&HR, marketing etc with the NGOs that require such assistance.
Every company gauges their business investments by totalling up the returns. But when it comes to social or environmental investments the same rigours don't necessarily apply. The result is that the community investments are not working as hard as they could be. However, with the field of corporate social responsibility maturing worldwide, this is beginning to change.
By sponsoring volunteering, a few leading companies around the world (Walt Disney, Proctor and Gamble, Fluor, Chase Manhattan Bank and Whitbread Brewery) and in Australia (Westpac, American Express and The Body Shop) are getting better results for their community dollar. The advantages over traditional community investments such as cash donations, donations in kind, or donations of equipment, include:
Improve Employee Skills and Training: Some leadership companies have integrated volunteer programs into ongoing training and development efforts to build employee knowledge and skills. For example, BT Group plc found that volunteering and other forms of employee community involvement helped develop a variety of competencies, including planning and implementation, communication, project management, listening skills and customer focus.
Encourage Employee Teamwork: Many community projects require volunteers to work cooperatively in teams to accomplish tasks. Such teams often involve a diverse mix of company and community representatives, spanning a variety of ages, races, cultures, and working styles. Many companies have harnessed the teamwork skills learned in volunteer activities to help everyone from line employees to senior executives work more collaboratively in their jobs.
Develop Leadership Skills: Because volunteer initiatives provide opportunities for employees to engage in activities that may differ from their daily tasks, employees can develop and demonstrate their ability to take charge in new and challenging situations. Companies find that their volunteer efforts in the community have enabled them to identify leadership skills among employees that had not surfaced during daily operations.
Develop the Local Labour Pool: Some companies direct their volunteer activities toward helping community members develop skills and abilities that enhance their employability and opportunities for advancement.
Recruit and Retain Employees: Volunteer programs can be an attractive company benefit to current and prospective employees. According to the Points of Light Foundation, in 2003, 58 percent of U.S. companies used their employee volunteer programs for recruitment and retention purposes.
Improve Corporate Reputation: Volunteer projects and strategic partnerships can yield positive media attention for companies. For example, The Home Depot has received favourable publicity for its partnership with Habitat for Humanity and KaBOOM! in the United States and Canada. The company helps KaBOOM! build playgrounds with cash donations, donations in kind, and encouraging employees to volunteer.
Leverage Philanthropic Resources: When included as part of a strategic mix of community-involvement activities, corporate volunteerism can enable companies to provide a greater benefit to the community at a lower cost than can be done through charitable contributions alone. For example, some companies make donations contributions to organizations for which their employees volunteer.
Increased Impact in Areas of Strategic Importance: Some companies give employees time off for community service to work on projects or issue areas defined by the company. This strategy is an effective tool to increase employee participation in community.
Examples of Corporate Employee Volunteering:
Tata Group Companies
Tata Council of Community Initiatives (TCCI) has developed an index for Sustainable Human Development. This is an effort towards institutionalising the work individual Tata companies have been doing in the area of community welfare, helping them to optimally influence the development of the society. One of the many Tata companies like Voltas Ltd has a well-defined Community Development Policy. The company partners with NGOs geographically close to its premises in the vicinity of the office or the factories. In order to tap the vast potential of the Voltas force, employees are encouraged to contribute their talents / core strengths by picking out their areas of preferences from a general volunteering matrix and the Voltas core competency matrix. Employees are then deployed on the projects on hand matching their core strengths/preferences with the need of the project. Voltas creates a conducive climate within the organization towards volunteering. Experiences of the volunteers are shared through the internal communication channels with all employees. There are so far 704 registered volunteers across the organization.
The core competency project of Voltas has been initiated in collaboration with the Joseph Cardijn Technical Institute Mumbai wherein the students from underprivileged background, school dropouts are imparted hands on technical training in air conditioning and refrigeration. Volunteers for this project, primarily engineers from cross section of the company divisions got together and pooled in their intellectual resources for designing a course in air conditioning and refrigeration with all the knowledge of allied trades including carpentry, welding etc. The duration of the course has been pegged at one year. Since this is a pilot project, it aims to ensure that the students after passing out from the institute become employable.
Employee volunteerism is the most identifiable attribute of Tata Steel. Tata Rural Development Society, Community Development and Social Welfare, Centre for Family Initiatives, Public Health and AIDS Care Committee are initiatives promoted, supported and staffed by the company. The company has made social volunteerism the primary responsibility of 55 of its employees. Apart from these there are more than 4000 employees who volunteer and support the Company's initiatives.
Hughes Software Systems
To provide the benefits of education to the underprivileged in India, HSSians collaborate with India Literacy Project, a US based Literacy focused funding organization. While ILP volunteers at Hughes Network Systems (HNS), the parent organization of HSS, help in raising funds and keeping the donors informed of the progress of projects, HSSians visit the site areas to do audits and assessments for the suitability, sustainability and authenticity of projects. The much needed human touch and support to the projects is provided when HSSians go to remote villages in Ajmer (SWERA project). They motivate villagers to send the girl-child to the education centers. Slum students in Patpargunj (GODHULI project) have participated in intramural competitions organized at HSS, where they not only compete with HSSians but also beat them and walk away with the first prize
Karm-Marg a destitute children's home, which the Reachout group frequents, resonates with joy and squeals of laughter on every visit. Reachout volunteers have been contributing not only money but also time to bring back the lost childhood for many of these children. One of the many events organized is the Reachout week in the HSS campus showcasing the arts handiwork and the dance and dramatics talents of these children.
Source: Tata Volunteers Report 2003, Web sites: www.volunteering.com.au www.volunteer.ca
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