On paper, paying employees to work elsewhere may not sound like it makes good business sense! But in fact, corporate volunteering is growing in popularity and for many valid reasons. It can help to boost the physical health and mental well-being of your team, not to mention the positive impact it can have on the wider community. So, ahead of Volunteers Week, the Occupational Healthcare experts at YourGP round up their top six benefits of corporate volunteering.

Get involved

Corporate volunteering involves employees undertaking volunteer work during their usual paid working hours. To get the most out of such an initiative, talk to your team about the issues they are most passionate about. Do they want to help in the fight against climate change, for example? If so, they could spend a day assisting at a community garden or litter-picking the local area. Or would they prefer to do their bit to tackle poverty by helping at a food bank, for example?

Whatever cause your business decides to support, every little helps. Contact local charities and community groups and ask how they would like you to get involved. Even if your team volunteers for just one day per year, it could make all the difference – to the charity and to your team.

There’s no better time to start

Volunteers Week is an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering in their communities. It runs 1st – 7th June and there are lots of resources available at www.volunteersweek.org to inspire your team to give back.

Top six benefits of corporate volunteering

Empowering your employees to give back to their local community can have multiple mental and physical health benefits. Here are just a few of our favourites:

1. You can’t beat the sense of satisfaction and fulfilment that comes from knowing you have contributed something positive, worthwhile, and possibly even life-changing. This feelgood factor can do wonders to an individual’s sense of self-worth and confidence and, in turn, their mental health. This will undoubtedly translate to the workplace, helping to creating a more engaged and productive workforce.
2. The physical health benefits of corporate volunteering can also be huge, especially for those businesses whose workforce are typically sat at their desks 9-5 Monday to Friday. Getting outside into the fresh air and helping with physical jobs is a great way to exercise. Just one day dedicated to sprucing up a local playpark, for example, could involve lifting and carrying objects, to-ing and fro-ing, which could add up to quite a workout!
3. If you’re trying to create a positive workplace culture, corporate volunteering is a great place to start. It is an opportunity to lead by example and sets a precedent of considering the needs of others, as well as going above and beyond.
4. By taking your team out of the workplace and out of their comfort zone, there is every chance you may discover they have additional skills that you weren’t even aware of. Corporate volunteering is a great way for your employees to develop new skill-sets – such as organisational, teamworking, coaching or leadership skills. It can inspire your team to be more creative, help them develop better problem-solving skills, and help them hone their communication skills too.
5. Corporate volunteering is widely recognised as being a significant work perk. As such, it could help your business attract new talent, as well as help to retain your existing workforce.
6. Corporate volunteering can also benefit your business on a wider level. Having a strong sense of corporate social responsibility can increase customer loyalty. And it can help you to form new business relationships – who knows what future opportunities it could lead to, the possibilities are endless!

Building better teams

Will your team be volunteering this month? Find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and let us know what rewarding and meaningful things you’ll be contributing to.

Finally, if you’re interested in finding out more about ways to improve the mental and physical health of your team, speak to the Occupational Healthcare professionals at YourGP. Simply call 0131 225 5656 or email occhealth@your.gp and we’ll be happy to arrange an appointment at a time that suits you.