If staff motivation and retention are a concern within your organisation then staff volunteering is a model to consider.
Staff volunteering programs give employees the opportunity to demonstrate existing skills and learn new ones from the community partner. It is a particularly good way to develop leadership skills and test staff competency outside familiar work-places. It can be especially useful for 'skilling-up' trainee management personnel.
Many community groups have volunteer programs to assist them in the day-to-day running of their organisations. The volunteer work may involve basic administrative duties, client interaction or other tasks such as building maintenance or food preparation. Alternately it could be at a strategic level, with executive staff offering project management or other skills. All of these volunteering possibilities allow for greater staff interaction and team building.
Some organisations choose to have their staff volunteer during regular office hours, other programs allow employees to 'bank' the amount of hours they volunteer in the community (outside of office hours) and then reward staff through cash bonuses or paid leave. Both methods offer incentives to staff who choose to volunteer.
Box 7 offers contact details of some volunteering organisations in Australia these may be an initial contact for businesses wishing to find a community partner.
Strategic Executive Advice and Learming Seal Force Seal
Force helps build partnerships by transferring corporate knowledge into community organisations. The participants share executive knowledge and skills with community organisations, who in turn share their culture, values and experience. This exchange process is focused around a specific strategic project selected by the community group.
In one such project, the National Australia Bank and the Salvation Army teamed up to work on Crossroads, the Army’s homelessness network. Investing money is not the core business of the Salvation Army, nor is the planning of investments for the homeless the core business of bank executives. The task for both parties was to integrate their knowledge and ideas into a common plan. It was decided that it would be of great benefit to the Army’s work if the Bank’s executives could come up with a way to boost the value of a specific bequest.
Participating bank staff gave up three hours a week to get a better understanding of their mission, assisting on a needle exchange program and handing out food vouchers.
While gaining a unique insight into the workings of a community organisatio^n, the bank executives devised a model investment program which leveraged an original $400,000 bequest into a self-funding pool of $1.2million! Contact details: www.sealforce.com.au
Box 7
VOLUNTEERING ORGANISATIONS
Netaid.org: Offers on-line volunteering for skilled individuals interested in assisting developing countries, for example, on-line mentoring of Peruvian schoolchildren. www.netaid.org
SEEK Volunteer: This website is linked to seek.com.au, Australia’s leading internet employment site. It is a not-for-profit initiative designed to bring volunteers and the organisations seeking them together. www.volunteer.com.au
Volunteering Australia:The national peak body working to advance volunteering in the Australian community. Its role is to represent the diverse views and needs of the volunteer movement while promoting the activity of volunteering as one of enduring social, cultural and economic value. www.volunteeringaustralia.org
Australian Volunteers International: Provides opportunities for Australians to volunteer to live, work and learn in partnership with people of other cultures. Volunteers contribute to developing communities and bring a reciprocal benefit to Australia. www.ozvol.org.au