Celebrating National Volunteer Week: Three Ways to Engage and Inspire Employees to Make a Lasting Impact

Increasingly, today’s diverse workforce is looking for employers to provide purpose in the workplace and to help them make a difference at work, at home and in the community. And, for good reason, more companies are taking notice: highly engaged employees are 38 percent more likely to have above-average productivity and 87 percent less likely to leave the organization.

In the midst of National Volunteer Week (April 23-29), it is an important moment in time for companies to reflect on how to best lend their time, talent, voice and support to the communities they operate in. For businesses, it is a chance to stop and reflect on the year-round opportunities they provide employees to make a positive impact. But don’t be fooled: while volunteerism is an important part of a company’s employee engagement strategy, there is much more you should be doing to unlock greater engagement across your organization.

Only planning a day of service or providing a few hours of paid time off for volunteerism per year isn’t going to cut it anymore. According to the 2016 Cone Communications Employee Engagement Study, employees want companies to go deeper in terms of volunteer opportunities offered – whether it’s a quick activity they can do at their desks or an after-hours opportunity they can do on their own time. And nearly three-quarters (71%) want their employers to provide opportunities for them to help make a positive impact on the company’s social and environmental commitments. 

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