Recruiters favour volunteer work, says Jamie Ward-Smith, so why haven’t we recognised the benefits it brings to developing existing talent?
If you believe what you read, email is dead. To be more productive, say the experts, we should stop responding to requests and wasting our time reading those ‘reply all’ messages. Whether those predictions are correct – and I’m not sure we’re fully done with email yet – it’s true Britain needs to address its low productivity and find ways to help people work more effectively.
But rather than apps and efficiency savings, perhaps the answer to the UK’s low productivity challenge is to stop working every so often. I’m not talking about annual leave, or a longer weekend, but taking an hour or so out of our working week and devoting it to something else entirely: a good cause. It’s an easy sell to employees, but the challenge so far has been getting business leaders on board.
While volunteering can take many forms, from mentoring, to fundraising, to providing a listening ear, there is much to be gained from working in a new team, from exercising different skills than those used day to day, or from rising to an unexpected challenge. Embedding volunteering in the work schedule brings benefits to staff and the business, improving productivity, happiness and wellbeing.
As charity requirements move towards skills-based volunteering rather than team-based ‘painting sheds’ events, professionals are in demand. And naturally, people are more likely to seek out such opportunities at a time that is convenient to them. Three quarters of respondents to our recent survey on the subject said they would be likely to volunteer if they could fit it round their work schedule.
With convenience playing such a key role, having business make volunteering part of the working week is crucial. Currently, though, it’s not happening – our survey revealed that just a third of employers offer paid time off for staff to undertake volunteer work.
Employers need to encourage voluntary work not just because it’s ‘a good thing to do’, but also because of the skills people acquire when lending a hand. It could form part of an employee’s wider learning and development; a way to help younger staff develop their leadership potential. If nothing else, employers must recognise that freeing up a small slice of time for volunteering is a low-cost way to ensure staff are motivated and engaged with the business.
Already, according to Team London research, the majority of business leaders prioritise voluntary work when recruiting, so why don’t they see it as valuable for personal development once someone is in the job?
The Conservative party pledged at the last election to entitle public sector workers and those at companies of 250 or more employees to paid volunteering leave for three days a year. Sadly, we’ve seen little progress on this – but organisations can and should be the driving force for action here.
The fact that a third of employers do offer paid time off for volunteering should be a point of pride, but it’s time for this to become the norm, to boost productivity and employee engagement, and not least to help worthy causes. It’s in all our interests.
Jamie Ward-Smith is chief executive of the Do-it Trust, an online platform that helps employers match their staff with accessible volunteering opportunities (do-it.org)