Top 3 Game-Changing tips for elevating your EVP!

Building a corporate employee volunteering programme in South Africa feels hard - because we're building a new culture and a new corporate behaviour.

We had the opportunity to chat with Patronella Sono, Staff Volunteer Program Specialist at Momentum Metropolitan. With her wealth experience in the sector, she shared with us the top three tips that significantly elevated their employee volunteering programme.

These are 3 easy tactics, which if implemented consistently, will allow corporates to build long lasting, meaningful and impactful programmes.

Tip 1: Involve Employees through Strategic Planning

Involve your employees in your strategy development journey, this can be done through focus groups. Incorporate their suggestions and make them an integral part of the decision-making process.

Identify initiatives close to their hearts, integrate them into the annual calendar and introduce skilled-based projects.

At Momentum Metropolitan, we always employ a bottom-up approach. Our leaders actively participate in volunteering, encouraging other employees to get involved as well.

Tip 2: Create a Diverse and Inclusive Volunteer Culture

At Momentum Metropolitan, our employees represent diverse age groups, backgrounds and cultures.

We believe that involving volunteers from various walks of life ensures a wider reach and a more inclusive impact.

Tapping into employees' passion by aligning volunteering initiatives with their interests creates a deeper sense of connection. Our successful projects, such as the NPO Business Challenge, Payroll Giving and Lesedi Awards, have thrived on this inclusive approach.

Remember, giving employees the opportunity to work for a cause, organisation or community that they care about is key.

Tip 3: From One-Day Volunteering to Long-Term Volunteering

Adapt your approach to the changing industry landscape. Employees want to get involved more in sustainable projects to see the impact they can make. We have transformed our skills-based volunteering initiative from a one-day event into a six-month initiative. This change has helped us incorporate a flexible volunteering approach.

We have also recognised that the new normal requires a combination of physical and virtual volunteering opportunities to cater to diverse employee preferences and work arrangements – Hybrid volunteering.

The most valuable assets you can bring to any volunteer programme are compassion, an open mind, a willingness to help wherever needed, and a positive attitude to encourage your volunteers