People: Allowing staff time off from work to do good

Give staff time off work to volunteer

Louisa Peacock | 01.12.2011


The business group made the call after nearly two-thirds of UK employers admitted to not helping their staff to volunteer, despite 58% of workers keen to get involved in local community projects. Managers were reluctant to promote volunteering because of a lack of time and money, the study of 1,010 employees and 502 managers by v, a volunteering charity, found.


However, Miles Templeman, IoD director-general, called on cash-strapped businesses to promote staff volunteering to help kick-start the Big Society. Mr Templeman said: "It's clear that in the current climate, many businesses simply can't afford large-scale financial investment programs to help communities, so allowing staff time off from work to do good is the ideal solution."


"Employee volunteering is now a major part of the corporate responsibility mix, enabling companies to leverage their most valuable assets – their staff – to address some of the most significant problems facing society."


Happy MLK Jr. Day... become a volunteer in your neighborhood and lead the way to a better future