Individual and family volunteering makes a huge impact on the community. Employee volunteering will not only make an impact on the surrounding community, but also on the work environment. Employees who volunteer together will feel more connected to the community in which they work, and also closer to their coworkers.

Starting an employee volunteer program in your workplace is easy to do. It will help shape your company’s image because you will be giving back to the community that you work in. Follow the eight steps below to get your employee volunteer program started today!

1. Assess both your employees’ and community’s interests and needs. Survey employees to assess their current interests and past volunteer experience. Check out your local HandsOn Network action center or other local volunteer center to find volunteer opportunities near your workplace.
2. Identify business priorities and goals that can be met through an employee volunteer program. A successful program will reflect business goals while adding value to the overall business objective. You can use your business plans when writing up your employee volunteer program to better incorporate the two.
3. Secure your company’s top management support. All levels of management and departments should encourage employee participation in the program. Identify senior managers that can participate in various projects to get better participation from all employees.
4. Develop a program structure and program policies. Encourage participation from all employee levels. Try to develop an employee committee who can dedicate themselves to greater participation. Develop written policies about employee participation in service events (i.e. how many project must staff members participate in). Learn best practices of employee volunteer programs so that you may implement them into your program.
5. Design volunteering projects in line with financial support. Try to volunteer at organizations that your company supports or is considering supporting. Your company’s philanthropy donations will mean more to the organization, if they are also backed by volunteer support.
6. Measure the program and evaluate its results. Develop methods for measuring overall employee satisfaction with the program and actual participation. Regularly evaluate whether or not the program is meeting the company’s overall strategic goals. By answering these questions, you can begin planning the next projects to better meet these goals.
7. Establish a rewards program for participating employees. Reward will help build program participation. Develop an awards system for employee
   s to encourage their participation from extra vacation time to a t-shirt.
8. Publicize your company’s efforts both internally and externally. You can communicate your employee’s efforts through the Internet or by contacting your local newspaper article. By reporting your results, the community will look more favorably at your company, and other companies may be more enthusiastic about starting a program of their own!

 

Employee volunteer programs are a great way to better your employee’s morale and will also boost community support. It is important to build your company’s image through volunteering within the community.

Does your company have an employee volunteer program? We would love to hear about it in the comments sections below!

Today’s post comes from Luci Miller. Luci is an AmeriCorps member on the Points of Light Digital team. Luci has recently joined other members in planning staff volunteer projects.

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