Employee volunteering
Kent County Council offer all their staff 2 days a year to
use for volunteering, either as an individual or as part of a team,
and forms part of their learning and development programme.
Staff are also encouraged to continue their volunteering in
their own time and to become involved in public service duties,
such as school governors, magistrates and prison visitors, and
associated training and leave is given to enable this.
With a growing number of volunteers involved in public service
delivery, employee volunteering provides a sound basis to show the
benefits of volunteering as part of a work-life balance, and
volunteering as an accepted part of the council's business and
staff care package.
Since the employee volunteering scheme began staff interest has
increased, so also has the range of activities they have become
involved with.
More and more employers are looking at how their companies can
become involved in the communities that surround them. They
also recognise that within their staff there is a wealth of
untapped experience that could help with this.
The amount of community involvement a company is able to
contribute to will of course depend on its size, the number of
staff employed and the possibility of being able to release staff
during working hours. However there are a variety of ways
companies can get involved, from payroll giving schemes to hands on
involvement.
To see what your company could give to the local community, take
a look at the websites below for inspiration and step-by-step
guides to setting up a scheme and sharing the expertise of your
staff.
Business in the
Community
To inspire business to increase the quality and content of their
corporate community involvement.
Business Community
Connections
The Business Community Connections website provides a selection of
on-line sources of information covering: community involvement,
charities/community organisations, social responsibility and
businesses.
For more information about the council's employee volunteering
scheme contact the team on 01622 694844 or email kent.volunteers@kent.gov.uk.