As part of our discussion “The Case for Corporate Citizenship,” NCoC is highlighting some ways corporations are engaging employees, giving back to communities, and integrating civically responsible business practices into their operations. The first feature in this series is Employee Volunteer Programs.

One way corporations are serving communities is by creating volunteer programs that engage employees in direct service and create partnership opportunities with nonprofit organizations. In a recent survey by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) in Giving in Numbers (2009), 94 percent of survey respondents have at least one formal domestic volunteer program and 49 percent of the respondents have at least one formal international volunteer program.

These volunteer programs allow companies to devote their time toward fostering a culture of service. The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship (BCCCC) wrote a report called The State of Corporate Citizenship 2009: Weathering the Storm and found that 83 percent of large companies support employee volunteering because of its positive community impact. BCCCC also found 62 percent of employees said they would rather work in companies that allow them volunteer opportunities with nonprofit organizations than those that don't offer civic engagement programs.

There are different ways in which these programs are organized. Some companies create volunteer programs based on their employee's interest—do employees want to work with the environment, children, elder, homeless? Others choose causes and issues directly related to business operations. Once companies have come up with a collaborative concern within their community, they then team up with specific nonprofits to try to help solve community problems. A couple examples of Employee Volunteer Programs in action are:
•Employee Volunteer Programs : These business–organized initiatives help recruit and match employees with volunteer opportunities in the community, sometimes during the workday (paid–release time), and sometimes on weekends (off–company time).
•Days of Service : Corporations sometimes sponsor and organize teams of employees to participate in national service days in partnership with local nonprofits. These include events such as Join Hands Day, MyGoodDeed, Make a Difference Day, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.
•Signature service events : Corporations can create their own service days for employees. For example, in Partnership with the National Education Association, Target helped create Read Across America Day. Each year Read Across America Day is celebrated on Dr. Seuss's Birthday and allows Target employees to volunteer at local schools or host in–store events during the first week of March to celebrate the importance of K–12 education.
•“Dollars for Doers” : To incentivize employee volunteerism outside work hours, some companies have “Dollars for Doers” programs that match employee's time contributions with a cash contribution from their employer. These programs are employer–sponsored, but employee–driven, and CECP Giving in Numbers (2009) report shows about 67 percent of companies have integrated a “Dollars for Doers” program as part of their domestic engagement portfolio.

To institutionalize a culture of civic responsibility in business operations, some corporations form strategic partnerships with their local Volunteer Centers to build collaborative programs and partnerships with different nonprofits, schools, and social causes across the community.

VolunteerMatch says employee volunteering allows employees to gain personal benefits, such as increased understanding of a community's needs and issues, a chance to test workplace skills, learn new skills, develop teamwork and leadership abilities, and make professional and business contacts. These programs benefit corporations by building brand awareness and affinity, strengthens consumer loyalty, improving employee retention, productivity, and loyalty, as well as providing a vehicle to reach strategic goals.

Next in our Corporate Citizenship series: Pro bono service and skills–based volunteering.