9 July 2007
For immediate release
Volunteer-friendly public and private sector employers have just 10 working days left to raise their profile by entering The Guardian Public Service Awards 2007.
Organisations that run employer-supported volunteering (ESV) schemes are being urged to enter the Good Citizenship category, sponsored by Volunteering England.
A recent poll on the Volunteering England website found that 66% of respondents believed that “volunteer award schemes benefit organisations more than their beneficiaries”.
Justin Davis-Smith, Acting Chief Executive of Volunteering England, said:
“Employers should rightly be commended for encouraging their staff to contribute to the local community and I would urge those with strong ESV schemes to act as an example and an inspiration to other public and private sector employers and enter the Awards today.
“We believe that volunteer award schemes can benefit both the employer and employee. There is a strong incentive for organisations to support their staff to volunteer as it boosts recruitment and retention – but individuals also gain from increased recognition for their efforts and for the causes they support.”
For more information on the judging criteria and to enter your ESV scheme visit www.societyguardian.co.uk/publicservicesawards. The deadline for entries is 20 July 2007.
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Notes to Editors
- For more information on Volunteering England, call Cat Dean on 020 7520 8932 oremail cat.dean@volunteeringengland.org.For out of hours press enquiries, contact Sonya Roberts on 07952 128057.
- 305 people responded to the question: Do volunteer award schemes benefit organisations more than their beneficiaries? 66% responded “yes”, 34%, “no”.
