Nowadays both the business sector and voluntary sector form a kind of partnership that benefits the two of them in a lot of ways. The companies that introduce ESVPs, that is, Employer Supported Volunteering Programmes, are associated with more and more employees tending to work for them and feel proud of that. Customers also feel satisfied while using such companies’ products because such an act of the employer makes his business appear to be acting responsible. Before introducing Employer Supported Volunteering programmes, some steps should be taken into consideration.
1. Before developing any kind of volunteering programmes the employer must carry out an extensive research process, which concludes the identifying of any kind of volunteering that the employees are already involved in. The research process would help to make sure whether to continue a specific existing volunteering activity or to build a new activity for the business.
2. It is fairly necessary for the business as a whole to participate in or support any kind of volunteering act. The senior members of the company can set examples for the junior staff members by volunteering themselves. The whole process is successful when everybody is willing to volunteer in a positive manner. Everyone should be aware of the programmes and should know their importance as well.
3. It is more beneficial to have the ESVP in writing, that way everyone would regard it as a serious business and would know the ins and outs of the whole programme. Anything that is in writing has a great impact on everyone, and it would benefit both the company and the charitable organisation too.
4. To run a successful ESVP it is necessary to understand the joint aims and objectives of the volunteering company and the charitable organisation, and the programme should benefit both of them in a positive way.
5. The company is responsible for the whole volunteering programme working efficiently and, because of this, the committee should be formed within the company, responsible for the activities involved in the volunteering programme such as training the employees, setting out goals and objectives, allocating resources and other related things.
6. It is very important to find suitable partners that are willing to share their ideas and objectives for the volunteering activity and would support every decision made by the company in the volunteering programme. Find a suitable charitable organisation or group that are willing to work hand in hand with your company.
7. Another necessary step involved in this process is to encourage employees to step ahead in volunteering programmes. This can be done by including profiles of superb employee volunteers in the company magazines or a direct and continuous communication between the employees and people from the community organisations.
8. It is necessary to monitor and evaluate the whole process involved in the ESVP this way one can keep track of past and future decisions made in this respect.
9. While volunteering, the employees should be able to enjoy themselves and look forward to being a part of the programme. Therefore it is very important to generate positive publicity.
As featured in
