What is employer supported volunteering?
Businesses and the public sector are becoming increasingly interested in how their own employees can become involved in volunteering. Many and varied programmes are being set up to assist employees to volunteer, whether during work hours or in their own time. This is called employer supported volunteering (ESV).
In 2007, 36% of employees had an employer supported volunteering scheme available to them. 1 This has jumped since 2005, when 24% of employees in England and Wales worked for employers with schemes.2 It is reported that approximately 70% of FTSE 100 companies have some kind of employer supported volunteering programme3. This is in marked contrast to SMES, with 20% of employees of medium sized businesses and 14% of employees of small businesses having an employer supported volunteering scheme1.
Employer supported volunteering may complement and enhance other community investment programmes, such as charitable and community donations, payroll giving schemes, charity of the year partnerships, recycling office equipment, and other forms of giving time such as secondments.
1Figures quoted from the 2007 National survey of volunteering and charitable giving by the Institute for Volunteering Research in partnership with the National Centre for Social Research and the Cabinet Office.
2 Statistics from The Citizenship Survey - a biennial survey of adults in England and Wales, covering a range of community based issues including views about the local area, racial and religious prejudice and discrimination. The 2005 survey was published on 27 June 2006.
3 Source: Business in the Community
