Employee Volunteering – A Leadership Development Tool!!

Volunteering is stepping up the corporate ladder and gradually becoming an important pillar of corporate social responsibility.  From single day volunteer events to sustainable engagements, from sporadic activities to institutionalisation of corporate sustainability goals and from mere support, CEOs and CFOs are becoming the drivers and promoters of the volunteering programs.

Most of the corporate organisation are rooting to create tools to measure employee volunteering and using employee volunteering as a leadership development tool.

The idea of employee volunteering comes with an increased awareness of employee welfare and happiness. Everybody wants their employees to be creative and to think outside the box hence it is important to offer stimulating activities that will improve employee engagement. The activities should compel the employees to think and work in resource crunched space and limited budget.

If we look deeper into the community needs, we find the answer to corporate social responsibility, employee volunteering opportunities and a great team building exercise. Align them strategically  and let employee delve into consultancy, delivery and execution. What comes out is the most formed product of team work and a very meaningful community engagement.

It is not just team work but also a great peer learning experience. The senior employees provide consultancy, the mid level help deliver the ideas provided by the seniors and the same gets executed by the fresher to mid level employees. Through knowledge sharing, hands on experience and resolving challenges in limited resources, an employee emerges with more developed soft skills such as problem solving, mentoring and communication.

While every company’s volunteering strategy may vary, it sure is an effective answer to increased employee participation, motivation and their development into leaders.