UK Employee Volunteering 2022-23 Report

I am very proud to be launching today the UK Employee Volunteering 2022-23 Report produced by non-for-profit social enterprise Works4U, a specialist in employee volunteering.

It provides genuinely new analysis and revealing insights into employee volunteering from the perspective of employees. Despite corporate volunteering being carried out for decades there is little analysis and data, let alone behind the scenes experiences of how it happens. Until now!

The report (free to download on Works4U’s website) reveals, for example:

• 25% did not know how much time their employer allowed
• 94% stated employers should do more to promote volunteering

However, the report also shows that employers are doing much more to organise employee volunteering but they are not keeping up with the demand from their employees.

There has been a perception shift by employees who in the past may have seen the opportunity to volunteer during work as something special and a nice to have, now see it as a business as usual activity and that it is odd or wrong if an employer does not offer it.

Employer Supported Volunteering (ESV), as it is referred to in the voluntary and community sector (VCS), has nowhere near reached its potential and the increase levels in employee volunteering is a positive trend but work needs to be carried out within the VCS to build capacity and skills to harness this. Works4U is trying to achieve this through the national ESV Network it has set up and manages.

The evidence of the report also shows that employers need to promote their employee volunteering programmes more effectively as otherwise they are not reaping the many business benefits of having one. As well as being an effective mechanism to support employee wellbeing and employee engagement, it helps with talent acquisition, talent recruitment and demonstrates to clients, partners, stakeholders, investors, supply chain that your business takes ESG, CSR, social impact and social responsibility very seriously.

Finally, a huge and massive thank you to everyone who helped make this report happen, it is no small thing for a non-profit like Works4U who punches far above its weight. A big thank you to all those who took the time to complete the survey and to promote it to others. The biggest thank you goes to my talented colleague Martyna who designed the report, including some original illustrations.

The UK Employee Volunteering 2022-23 Report can be downloaded here, I hope you find it interesting.