This month Goodlabs facilitated a virtual event with forward-thinking businesses to discuss the way that Covid-19 has transformed Employee Volunteering. The event was the culmination of a piece of research work that Goodlabs has been undertaking for VODA. Special guests from EE, Newcastle Building Society, Greggs and many others joined the conversation which was kindly chaired by Karen Goldfinch of North Tyneside Business Forum.
Regional VCS infrastructure organisation VODA had responded rapidly to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic by working alongside the local council to launch a support hub for vulnerable residents. The support offered was human-centred and practical in nature, simply known as: Good Neighbours. With volunteering at its heart the hub introduced VODA to hundreds of new volunteers, many adjusting to working from home rather than in shared offices. As the first lockdown relaxed VODA asked Goodlabs to lead a learning project to highlight the key ways in which impact had been made.
Thousands of vulnerable and isolated people received absolutely essential support through the work of the hub. Food parcels and vital medicines were delivered to those who could not leave their homes. However, one of the most interesting findings related to the volunteers themselves, especially to those volunteers adjusting to remote rather than office working. We found that:
Remote workers universally appreciated the opportunity to break up their working day by undertaking a volunteer assignment.
They benefitted from the social contact, which goes some way to replacing the social contact previously enjoyed at the office.
They have experienced ‘emotional payback’. Helping other gives an uplift in wellbeing that adds buoyancy to their working week.
We also found that these effects combined to mitigate known factors associated with working from home that are limiters on productivity. This in turn makes the experience of remote working more sustainable over the longer term. Our conclusion was therefore that a regular volunteer opportunity is therefore:
good for the employee, WIN ✓
good for those they support, WIN ✓
good for the employer too. WIN ✓
A challenge was laid down to businesses to embracing a new model of employee volunteering:
Out with the proverbial ‘teams painting sheds’. Prior models of CSR centred around large teams of staff engaging in full-day mass volunteering is called into question.
Breaking days into hours. More flexible approaches to ‘volunteering allowances’ within HR policies appear to be the new trend and need to be adopted more widely.