More support from employers needed to grow staff volunteerism

There is an opportunity to grow employee volunteerism, according to the latest Employee Giving Survey released on Wednesday (May 27).

Conducted by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) in 2014, the survey found that two in three did not volunteer through their employer, but one in two employees indicated that they would be interested to participate in volunteer activities organised by their employer.

The survey found that the top three factors that encourage employees to volunteer are having supportive colleagues and bosses, being given paid time off to volunteer and being given a choice of volunteer activities.

Currently, only one in five employers in Singapore organise volunteering activities for their staff. Culture, Community and Youth Minister Lawrence Wong said this can be improved.

Sharing the survey results at the NVPC’s Corporate Giving Practitioner round-table on Wednesday morning (May 27), Mr Wong called on employers to make that change.

He said one practical step is to help grow skills-based volunteerism, or contributing in areas employers are already professionally good at. He highlighted areas that could help charity organisations, such as accounting, legal and communications.

DEVELOPING NATIONAL ROADMAP

Besides the survey findings, NVPC signed an agreement with U.S. based international non-profit organisation Points of Light, in the development of the Singapore Roadmap for Corporate Giving – a national framework on corporate giving and community engagement.

The roadmap will establish indicators that allow corporates to better shape and measure the impact of their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.

Over the next few months, NVPC will co-develop the roadmap by consulting businesses and stakeholders on how the roadmap should look like.

Source: CNA