Corporate volunteering

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Corporate volunteering , which in the literature mainly translates as “company volunteer programs” or “promoting employee engagement”, generally describes the use of human resources in a company for charitable purposes that go beyond the original core business.

Corporate volunteering (CV), as part of corporate citizenship , includes, on the one hand, the involvement of employees of a company in various projects of a non-profit nature and, on the other hand, the promotion of the already existing voluntary commitment of employees.

CV projects are used on the one hand to develop company values ​​and culture, organizational development or to train employees in the context of personnel development . On the other hand, companies gain marketing advantages as a result: the company's reputation rises both with employees and in the local community.

Time donations and know-how donations by managers and employees from companies can be very diverse. They range from selective assignments, in which manual activities are mostly in the foreground, to one-week internships in social institutions, to longer personnel assignments in the management area of ​​non-profit institutions.

Corporate volunteering formats

In the literature there is a multitude of descriptions of what corporate volunteering can look like in concrete terms. In simplified terms, there are five options to choose from, but they are not entirely clear-cut to one another. The measures differ according to ...

  • Duration of the assignment,
  • Number of participants and their function in the company,
  • Competencies that are required or that should be trained,
  • the goal or the intended effect of the measure.
Advantages of corporate volunteering from a company perspective
Corporate volunteering formats at a glance

Action days or social days

Action days are unique in nature and often have the character of an event. During a social day , for example, classrooms are painted or playgrounds are built. The employees are only on duty for a few hours and tend to do simple, mostly manual work. However, since many employees can be involved at the same time, this form of corporate volunteering is very popular with companies. The disadvantage of this form of action is that it is hardly sustainable and has only a low social impact .

Mentoring

With mentoring , employees of a company are brought into temporary or permanent sponsorships, for example with young people with poor training or with people in need of care. The mentor passes on his technical knowledge or experience to an even less experienced person ( mentee or protégé). Mentoring can also mean that employees contribute their specialist knowledge to non-profit organizations. Mentoring promotes numerous professional and social skills. It thus serves to develop the employee's personality. Conversely, the continuous commitment also brings more to the non-profit organization than, for example, a day of action.

Social internship

Social internships have a direct impact on the personal development of the employee or the entire team. The focus is on the individual learning of the individual. Typical examples of a social internship are the integration of service learning programs into training or the change of sides of a manager who is sitting in on a non-profit organization. The disadvantage of the method is that it requires a lot of preparation and follow-up and only allows a brief insight. It hardly has any social impact.

Pro bono service

To work pro bono means to contribute one's professional skills free of charge. For example, the lawyer advises an organization on legal issues or the web designer programs the website. This form of corporate volunteering is strongly competence-based and has a high impact because it creates added value for the organization. Studies show that employees perceive this type of commitment as particularly meaningful and appreciative.

Secondment

Here, employees are "posted" to social organizations for a defined period of time (e.g. for three months) in order to take on specialist and management tasks. This can be particularly interesting for older employees as preparation for the post-employment phase (secondment for transition). The secondment favors creativity and promotes a change of perspective. The organization in turn receives effective support. Disadvantages: The secondment is cost-intensive, is based on a long-term relationship and only affects very few employees.

Mediation

Corporate volunteering platforms - similar to volunteer agencies - offer companies support in the organization of corporate volunteering events and in arranging pro bono work for their employees. In some cases, a platform is also offered in the form of a white label solution, which means that the user interface can look to the user as if it had been created by the company.

Corporate volunteering in the face of demographic change

Studies show that 30 to 45 year olds are the most socially engaged. Employees over the age of 50 participate significantly less in corporate volunteering measures. As it turns out, CV measures are also worthwhile for older workforce groups and pensioners. CV programs offer learning opportunities outside of the classic further training catalog, which is why they are also interesting for older people who are often used to learning. Participants report on the creation of meaning, new perspectives and better preparation for the post-employment phase. For example, the non-profit organization startsocial eV cooperates with Allianz SE - pensioners of the insurance group coach organizations and thus pass on their specialist knowledge.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theo Wehner, Gian-Claudio Gentile (Ed.): Corporate Volunteering - Companies in the field of tension between efficiency and ethics. Springer Gabler 2012, ISBN 978-3-8349-1813-0 .
  2. ^ Gert Mutz, Julia Egbringhoff: Corporate social responsibility. The role of employee representation. (PDF; 2.71 MB) (No longer available online.) Hans Böckler Foundation , July 2006, archived from the original on September 23, 2015 ; accessed on January 9, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b Federal Government's first engagement report 2012. (PDF; 1.92 MB) Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth, July 30, 2010, accessed on January 9, 2014 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Jan-Hendrik Kamlage, Niels Winkler: Corporate Volunteering: An empirical inventory of employee daily assignments using the example of the Bremen Day of Caring. (PDF; 147 kB) November 27, 2009, accessed January 9, 2014 .
  5. ↑ a b Corporate Volunteering. ( Memento from January 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) at: www.chariteam.de
  6. ↑ Development LLC: Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey, 2011 ( Memento from December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Secondment - out of the office, into the company. In: faz.net , accessed on November 28, 2013.
  8. ↑ Anja Pinter: Corporate Volunteering in Personnel Work: A Strategic Approach to Combining Corporate Interest and the Common Good. (PDF) University of Lüneburg , October 2006, accessed on January 9, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Lisa Ksienrzyk: Once ridiculed, now profitable - these founders place volunteers. In: gruenderszene.de. March 1, 2019, accessed February 16, 2020 .
  10. ↑ startsocial and the Allianz Senior Expert Program. ( Memento from December 23, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: StartSocial - Help for helpers. 2013.