Corporate Volunteering Initiatives: A Case Study

Most successful volunteering programs’ creates mutually rewarding outcomes for all the key stakeholders. The active employee participation in volunteering initiatives enables individual employees to develop their skill sets and perform better at a workplace and helps organizations to realize positive outcomes in terms of tangible and intangible benefits; similarly, there has been a significant development in the community. To explain the phenomenon of employee participation in corporate volunteering, we have made an attempt to explore what makes an employee to participate in corporate volunteering programs. In light of this, we have reviewed some of the prominent views in the extant literature and identified some of the key potential antecedents

This study suggests that managers can achieve both individual and organizational benefits by providing employees fulfilling opportunities through corporate volunteering activities. Furthermore, understanding the benefits of volunteering may encourage employers to join the growing trend of formalizing corporate volunteering. A major challenge for managers is to increase employees' proximity to their corporate volunteering initiatives, taking them from unaware- ness to active involvement. In view of this, this study provides insights for managers on the potential drivers accounting for employee participation in volunteering, aiding them to develop meaningful and comprehensive volunteering initiatives that can attract and sustain employee participation in volunteering. Specifically, this study explains how the nature of CV programs - how well they are planned and organized, levels of awareness created within the organization through internal communication channels, effective program implementation and feedback from the key stakeholders – can influence employees to participate in the corporate volunteering initiatives. Organizations thus need to pay attention not only to the organizing volunteering activities, but also to the extent to which that the corporate volunteering activities are planned and executed. This

Beyond role conflict and other balancing issues discussed in our study, further exploration is necessitated for potential rewarding relationships involving all the key stakeholders as a function of employee’s active role in corporate volunteering. Considering the nascent stage of employee volunteering and growing global interest in the same, there is substantial scope for improvement in both practice and knowledge. Since understanding local cultural and socio-economic settings for effective volunteering is the key, several multinational companies are deploying employees locally and globally to be able to contain the challenges and be sensitive to the varied cultural settings they operate in. Despite these challenges, the benefits of employee volunteering for companies, employees and communities are becoming much clearer. Understanding some of these benefits in a comprehensive manner in a relevant context helps develop and invest in winning employee volunteering