Michelle Barbin’s job doesn’t always meet her needs. Yes, she enjoys working a nine-to-five job helping improve the customer experience at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. She emphasizes that otherwise she would not have worked for almost 19 years at the health insurance company.
But her “sensitive heart” gets real satisfaction from the company’s ability to apply professional skills to work with resource-constrained nonprofits. A routine job—managing projects or putting together a slideshow—is more satisfying when it involves, say, a new marketing campaign for a children’s health group in Pittsburgh.
She also received developmental benefits; she thanks her leader on service day for helping convince her current boss to hire her for her new team.
“That’s a huge part of why I stay,” Barbin said.
Employees are increasingly finding that robust workplace volunteering programs meet their desires for personal connections, professional growth, and altruistic employers—career goals that may be missing in a traditional corporate atmosphere. The surge in interest caused by pandemic-era lockdowns, which has forced many Americans to reconsider their responsibilities to their communities, has led to… more corporate partners, volunteer hours and active participants in 2023 than ever before, according to Benevity, a platform that helps companies manage such programs.
According to the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals, more than 60% of respondents reported an increase in employee volunteer participation in the past year. survey of 149 companies.
Even employees who don’t volunteer feel better working in a place that has a strong community spirit culture. Regardless of their individual volunteer commitments, workers are proud to belong to a socially conscious company, said Jessica Rodell, a management professor at the University of Georgia who studies the psychology of workers.
Companies with strong volunteer programs tend to have lower employee turnover, she said.
“Volunteering can be one tool in a company’s toolbox that can help employees invest enough in the company to perform well and then want to stay there rather than go somewhere else,” Rodell said.
This can be a particularly good tool for instilling social purpose in frontline employees who tend to derive a sense of meaning from work, but report removal from your company’s mission.
But flexibility is key. Business management experts note that for meaningful connections to truly develop, employees must have the freedom to choose their volunteer activities, nonprofit partners, and time commitments.
Volunteering in the workplace wasn’t something Jesse Weissman knew employers wanted when he joined Microsoft in May 2021. Three years later, it’s an aspect of his professional life that he says deserves serious consideration if he ever finds a new job.
Seeking a deeper connection with the Seattle community, Weissman began mentoring students of color through Microsoft’s partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and a local nonprofit. Since September 2022, he has worked with Microsoft’s Black Employee Support Group in the Seattle area to organize speaking and mentoring opportunities for his colleagues.
“It filled a hole that I didn’t even know I had,” Weissman said.
Experts say not just any casual activity will do. These service days aren’t necessarily marked on office-wide calendars as days to play matching t-shirts and take photos on site. Some companies set aside regular work hours for several months so employees can build websites or develop business strategies for local charities.
Managers may think that light-hearted social efforts—like filling backpacks at happy hour—are necessary to unleash their cheerful employees. But Rodell, the management professor, said programs that are more labor-intensive and meaningful tend to resonate more with volunteers.
Best practices include tracking employees’ directions and meeting them where they are. Skills-based opportunities at Blue Cross Blue Shield range from one-day “flash” projects to multi-month partnerships. The company annually allocates 15 days to employees for volunteer activities, the same as vacation and sick leave. Interest groups can jointly create service projects.
Integrating giving into volunteer programs is another way to attract busier, more experienced employees with less time to serve but deeper pockets. Liberty Mutual distributes employee gifts to more than 11,000 eligible charities. Insurance company volunteers are further motivated by the opportunity to earn miniature grants for the charity of their choice. The total amount goes up to $2,500 for those who complete 100 hours of service.
Some employees recently spent more than six months consulting with More Than Words, a Boston-based nonprofit that provides employment to young people ages 16 to 24 who have been through the foster care system, the courts, homeless shelters or other systems. After surveying members, Liberty Mutual staff identified a lack of outside support, according to Naomi Parker, the nonprofit’s director of development. Youth needed help obtaining transportation and food before they could get jobs.
The volunteer commitment is now part of an extensive network that has seen the Liberty Mutual employee join the More Than Words board of directors and give more than $3.4 million to the nonprofit since 2013. Employees donated more than $85,000, including matches and other incentives.
“This doesn’t turn into a LinkedIn post, right?” – said Parker. “It’s not a quick hit. It’s real. It’s deep. And this is not for show.”
Volunteering can be a gateway to relationships that go beyond the expensive behind-the-scenes help provided by employees. Long-term partnerships, in turn, introduce budget-constrained nonprofits to new donor pools.
Now is an especially good time to make those connections, given that Generation Z is projected to overtake baby boomers in the workforce this year, said Matt Nash, executive director of the Blackbaud Giving Fund. According to a report from Fidelity Charitable, more than three-fifths of charitable donors recently became volunteers with the organizations they supported. As younger workers increase their income, well-structured bonds can be especially lucrative for nonprofits, Nash said.
Legendary Legacies CEO Ron Waddell didn’t expect Blue Cross Blue Shield employees to continue to be involved in his nonprofit’s work to rehabilitate young gang members. Several IT specialists and data analysts helped them better track the success metrics of their programs, which is important for both feedback and grant applications. But many months later, one volunteer made a $200 donation, which Waddell said was evidence of their honest motives.
It was not “a performative measure to make himself look good,” he said. “You could tell people were really interested.”