The Star Thrower
Although burpees and broccoli were the favored go-to new year solutions, it seems like people are starting to make life solutions. An example of a life solution could be doing things that improve your mind, body, and spirit, such as volunteering. Volunteering creates a trifecta of great outcomes for you and others. Research reveals that volunteering can increase positive feelings, also referred to as the helper’s high, instill greater trust in others, increase social interaction, and increase health and happiness of individuals who commit to volunteering. Volunteering has been linked with increased levels of happiness and decreased depression. Volunteering is great for local communities and society as a whole, and it provides mental, physical, and even emotional health benefits for volunteers themselves; it is a win-win!
Why is volunteering on the decline?
- 64B Americans volunteer annually, with an average of 50 hours, there are 326.7 million Americans.
- The US currently has 2 million actives nonprofit.
- Over two-thirds of volunteers find opportunities online.
- 64% are women, and 36% are men, with an average of 42 years of age.
- Volunteering has continued to decline over the last few years.
- Recent data looked at trends from 2008 to 2017, showing a decline from 26.5% to 25.1%.
Understandably, the last few years (COVID-19) made volunteering hard. Yet, as life is beginning to normalize, perhaps it is essential to start volunteering and doing good for others and ourselves. A growing body of evidence suggests that people who give their time to others might also be rewarded with better physical health, even resulting in a longer lifespan. Research also stated that volunteering leads to an 8.54 increase in mental health, and a .3% decrease in depression. Another significant benefit of volunteering helped counteract the effects of stress, anger, and anxiety. 64% percent of employees who volunteer said it improved their work relationships. The social contact aspect of helping and working with others can profoundly affect one’s overall psychological well-being. Volunteering is also a great way to develop self-confidence, soft skills, and other skills in a real-world environment (United Group, 2000). More frequent volunteering and staying involved are linked to higher volunteer wellbeing.
What is holding us back from serving others?
- Skip phone scrolling
- Waiting for the perfect conditions
- I’ll volunteer when I have extra time
- Fear of the unknown
- Leaders make it mandatory
- I don’t feel like I make a difference
- I won’t make a dent in the problem
- Don’t know where to start
- It did not meet my expectations
How can you increase engagement?
First of all, giving yourself a break from technology is always important. When are the conditions ever perfect? You don’t have extra time, you make extra time. Evidence tells us that more frequent and regular volunteering – such as weekly – is better for volunteers than being involved just a few times a year, often that becomes too intense for the volunteer, and the benefits start to wane. There is no agreed threshold of how much volunteering is too much – this is likely to depend on the person, their circumstances, the volunteering activities, and the management and support they receive. However, doing something purposeful and meaningful is identified as necessary, whatever role you play in volunteering. Your social impact is given by: The number of people whose lives you improve, and how much you improve them over time.
This means you can increase your social impact in three ways: by helping more people, by helping the same number of people to a greater extent, or by getting future generations to volunteer at a much younger age.
Three Simple Steps to start a Volunteer Program at Work
Create a Business Case for Leadership (Engagement, Investment, and ROI)
- Educate leadership about the positive results of volunteering; positive impact on employee engagement, increased recruitment and retention, and performance.
- Include leaders, employees, customers, suppliers, and board members in the volunteer work to signal that this is important.
- Provide appropriate funding, participation, support, and recognition consistently.
- Align the company’s values and strengths with volunteering opportunities to build the most meaning for participants and recipients.
- Measurement of volunteer value, community reach, and volunteerism impact on employees and recipients.
People Power
- Visible support from leadership and middle management.
- Build a volunteer committee and champions at every level.
- Learn the needs & interests of employees and recipients of the volunteer program.
- Focus on the volunteer initiative at new hire orientation and leadership meetings.
- Implement tools and technology to streamline and increase ease and outcomes.
Communication
- Prioritize advertising and marketing to increase awareness and engagement.
- Share testimonials with employees, their families, and the community.
- Connect volunteering to employee wellbeing and ensure the authenticity from leadership, middle management, and fellow employees.
- Creative communications to inspire playful, emotional, and meaningful engagement and experiences with employees and the community.
- Clear and concise marketing and messaging from leadership, middle management, and employee champions, as well as social media; LinkedIn, Twitter, Meta, TikTok, and Twitch.
When an employee sees this dedication to an important cause, it evokes pride in working at the organization. It is also critical that leaders consistently communicate to keep engagement high. This could be giving a handwritten thank you note to the volunteer, starting a volunteer of the month program, or sharing their volunteer story company-wide and highlighting the employees leading the way. Companies should avoid taking the easy route to create their volunteering initiative—such as mimicking others, focusing on pet projects, and forcing employees to engage. Instead, they should consider their company’s specific situation and strengths, capitalize on employees’ interests and build the most meaningful volunteering opportunities possible.
A corporate volunteer program allows you to tap into one of your best resources—people. This program empowers employees to give back by creating opportunities to spend time helping nonprofits and charities dedicated to causes they care about. But like any new initiative, creating a successful, lasting initiative means alignment with the vision and values of the company as well as a robust strategy, plan, tactics, and outcomes.
References
HBR Jessica Rodell
From the Magazine (January–February 2021)
