Sandwiched between Easter and Earth Day this year is National Volunteer Week. It may not be a well-known or widely observed week in many tangible ways – but it certainly should be. The intent of the occasion is to honor and acknowledge the people in our communities who take the initiative to help others through their time, service, and dedication to other people and worthy causes. Volunteers don’t offer their help and support with the objective of gaining accolades or acceptance; they do it out of the goodness of their spirit and a call to action that reflects the best aspects of humanity.
This post will highlight ways your business can support those employees who are already making a difference and those who want to do so. The insights below will provide you with ideas on how to nurture this giving nature in your community, workplace, and anywhere else a helping hand is needed.
Encourage Awareness in the Workplace
While many people who regularly volunteer find opportunities to do so on their own, plenty of others have the desire to help but aren’t always sure where to get started. By encouraging awareness in the workplace, you can help by providing resources for employees who want to pursue volunteering while supporting those who already do.
This could be as simple as sending an internal email asking if anyone is currently doing volunteer work and also asking who might be interested in doing so. The dialogue can begin from there, allowing those who already volunteer a means to share what groups or projects they help out with and for those already engaged people to connect with others who might want to join.
Another idea is to provide resources or literature in the break room for potential volunteer opportunities if you have a physical office or through internal communications with remote teams. A team member will need to take the initiative with compiling this information but then that leader should open up the effort to additions from everyone along the way. The entire team will have a go-to location (whether that’s a pile of pamphlets or an email chain with links) where they can access various volunteer possibilities at any time.
Open the Doors
If your business has a storefront or office space, consider offering your office space to volunteer groups for them to meet there outside of business hours. This could be a group that someone in your business is already a part of, or it could be completely unassociated with your workforce. Many volunteer groups and programs lack a budget or means to hold a physical location, and by offering up your space, you can help support those worthy group by your providing resources which are already in place.
This can be a great way for your business to connect to the local community and open the doors to lasting connections that go beyond customer or client engagement. This might not be feasible for every type of business, and it may require someone from the staff to be present at the meeting after their work hours, but it’s well worth considering and will be highly appreciated.
Share Services
Businesses should also consider sharing knowledge, resources, or even your firm’s value services/talents with the underserved public or other businesses that aren’t as successful. This form of giving back goes against the profit-at-all-costs mindset – but it’s a way to “pay it forward” and turn your business itself into a form of volunteering.
Here at LibertyID this takes shape as our helping businesses and individuals to understand the many issues surrounding identity fraud and the steps that they can take to reduce their risks. Yes, we offer a paid service, but we also provide information and resources to anyone who wants it.
Other examples here could be a chiropractor or clinic offering an educational sit-down on the benefits of exercise and joint health or a school providing an open class about higher education possibilities to the community. This doesn’t need to be highly involved or to detract from your business’s normal operations, but by sharing your services in a community-oriented way, you can help out those who might not have access to them. It’s volunteerism in action.
Spark Action
Another way a business can support volunteering is by sparking employees and staff members into action. This can take shape in many ways, but often people just need a little motivation or inspiration to become volunteers. By encouraging people to volunteer or by simply educating them on its many benefits to the community and beyond, your business can be the catalyst that gets them off and running towards the greater good.
Consider holding a staff meeting based on volunteer opportunities in your area. You don’t need to pressure anyone to sign up, but by your firm simply showing them what volunteer causes there are out there can open their eyes to possibilities. You can also organize some sort of group-based volunteer event with staff. This could be anything from trash cleanup to hospital visits, and it doesn’t need to be required. Instilling a team spirit into volunteering can help demonstrate how effective and easy it can be to make a difference. An example of this is when a firm commits to keeping a particular stretch of roadway free from trash by periodic clean-up activities by the firm’s employees. And your employees are likely to grow and connect in ways outside the workplace which is an added benefit.
Ask for Feedback Based on Experience
Once you have opened some avenues for potential volunteer work, it can also be helpful to ask for feedback about employee experience during the process. What did they learn? How much of an impact do they feel that they had? Would they consider working with the volunteer group or program again, or do they want to look for other options? These types of questions can be put into survey form for easy compiling or might be part of a monthly or quarterly review.
With so many people out there in need, volunteering continues to be integral to communities on a scale ranging from very local up to a global scale. The more that we can connect with and support others, the better chance we have of creating a thriving dynamic society. Your business has a unique opportunity to be a part of this, and encouraging volunteerism is a powerful tool toward that end.
LibertyID provides full service, fully managed identity fraud restoration to its subscribers. With a 100% success rate in resolving all 31+ forms of identity fraud. LibertyID Business Solutions provides Business fraud remediation, full pre-breach preparation with custom WISP protocols, post breach regulatory response, customer, and employee identity fraud restoration management, advanced employee training and third-party vendor management tools.