Employer Volunteering
Employer Supported Volunteering (ESV) is a way for
companies to support their employees in volunteering for their
local communities. Through volunteering employees develop
useful skills, and by facilitating participation employers get the
satisfaction of making a valuable commitment to charities in their
local area.
ESV policies can be formal and part of a larger corporate social
responsibility strategy or agreed on a more informal basis with
line managers.
Schemes can include all or a mixture of the following:
- paid time off work to volunteer
- permission to work flexibility to enable volunteering
- use of work facilities such as photocopiers or printers
- use of premises, for example allowing a Brownie unit to meet in
a work canteen
- help with fundraising or matched fundraising.
- support or acknowledgement in the company newsletter.
Case study
One leading retailer encourages all staff to volunteer and also
offers cash and in-kind donations. They have a national
database of volunteering opportunities for their staff and offer
two days' paid leave per year to do community or charity
work.
How will your employees benefit from volunteering?
By supporting your employees in volunteering for Girlguiding UK
you will help develop their skills without having to pay for
training. Your employees will also be learning in a practical,
hands-on environment rather than a classroom.
Girlguiding UK offers Leaders a multitude of training
opportunities that develop both personal and professional skills
such as mentoring, management, budgeting, leadership and
organisational skills.
In 2008 almost 1,000 of our volunteers completed their
Leadership Qualification. This has been assessed as the equivalent
to a National Open College Network (NOCN) Level 3 qualification. It
includes modules on everything from planning meetings to supporting
members, and from health and safety to finances.
How do we set up an ESV policy?
For information on how to set up and publicise an ESV policy
visit Volunteering England's
website.