3 secrets to increase employee volunteering engagement

There’s never been a better time to refresh your employee volunteering programme and to ensure it is working for your employees.

We had an opportunity to chat with Sarah Wright, Co-Head of CSI at Lombard Insurance Company and she shared some insightful tips that made their employee volunteering programme work.

Sarah is a wife, mom and has been with Lombard Insurance Company for 13 years and leading different volunteering initiatives and increasing employee participation in doing good.

Here are the three most insightful tips for engaging your employees in volunteering.

💡Tip 1: Give Your Employees More Choice

Give your employees a chance to choose Causes and volunteering opportunities they want to support.

Employees feel connected to volunteering initiatives when given the opportunity to decide on what to get involved in. The more types of volunteering opportunities available the more likely employees are to participate.

When sharing volunteering options with your employees include suggestions on different skill sets, such as painting, mentoring, or tutoring. This allows employees a variety of options to choose from.

At Lombard, we give our employees avenues to contribute to causes they are passionate about and through this, we empower employees to create their own giving and volunteer experiences contributing to a high participation rate in our employee volunteering programme.

💡Tip 2: Communicate Regularly

Don’t assume employees will do the volunteering work. Remind them through clear and concise communication.

We know that one of the strongest ways to build a resonant corporate volunteering culture is by letting employees know about the volunteering opportunities available.

Here are some ways to do it:

• Send out group-specific email reminders about upcoming campaigns/volunteering opportunities on your platform
• Post campaign highlights on your company’s intranet
• Get champions to help you advocate for engagement and generate excitement on a grassroots level.

This will make them feel informed and take action on initiatives.

💡Tip 3: Match Your Employees Giving Efforts

Matching your employees giving efforts increases employees engagement.

One of the most powerful ways that companies can create a culture of giving is by providing donation matching as part of their volunteering programme.

When you match funds for your employees’ donations this becomes a way to increase employee engagement, by showing support for the Cause they care about.

Match giving also amplifies your impact further and spreads a culture of giving within your company. Lombard Insurance Company matched all their employees giving and this has increased their employee’s participation by 34% during 2021.

So, don’t leave your employees on their own, communicate regularly with them on available volunteering opportunities and give them a chance to lead some initiatives. This will make them feel that their actions are making a difference.