Corporate & employee volunteering
Corporate & employee volunteering
Create impact for everyone
Corporate volunteering, or employee volunteering, refers to programmes where businesses support staff to give their time and/or skills to good causes. Whether through team volunteering days, sharing expertise pro bono, or engaging in longer-term partnerships with charities, these initiatives can deliver measurable value for your employees, your brand and your community.
Corporate volunteering delivers on multiple fronts. Your employees will feel better, gaining a sense of purpose and transferable skills. The charities you support will get access to capacity and expertise. And you’ll strengthen your culture, helping to attract talent, while making measurable progress on your ESG and social impact commitments.
What is corporate & employee volunteering?
Employee volunteering can play a key role in demonstrating social value, contributing to public procurement goals such as those outlined in the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS 2023). With a well-structured programme, it will help you meet ESG commitments, upskill staff, and deliver community impact.
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What does corporate volunteering mean?
Corporate volunteering is enabling and encouraging your workforce to contribute their time or skills to good causes, often during working hours. It could involve volunteering at a company organised team day or through opportunities suited to your employees’ interests and expertise.
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Can employees volunteer during work hours?
The majority of UK businesses now offer paid time off for volunteering. Also known as employer-supported volunteering, it means allowing your staff to contribute to causes they care about while on the clock. Policies vary, but on average companies offer employees around 2-3 days to use for volunteering each year.
Benefits of corporate & employee volunteering
For businesses
Corporate volunteering enhances your brand, supports community relationships, and helps deliver on ESG commitments. It is also proven to improve employee wellbeing, boost skills and uplift engagement. Fully used, employee volunteering time could deliver productivity gains woth over £5k, per employee, each year.
For employees
Volunteering supports professional development and personal fulfilment. Our research shows that nearly half (46%) of businesses agree it’s an effective wellness benefit, and 44% say it has improved wellbeing across their organisation. Your employees will also build confidence, expand networks, and often gain fresh motivation in their day-to-day roles.
For the community
Charities and grassroots organisations benefit from an influx of skilled support, capacity and energy. So by supporting your employees to volunteer you’ll be helping to deliver more vital services to more people, and build national resilience.
Types of corporate volunteering opportunities
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Pro Bono and skills-based volunteering
Skills-based volunteering will allow your employees to offer their expertise in areas like legal advice, digital skills, finance, or marketing. Pro bono volunteering is a specific form where professional services are provided at no cost, often in contexts where they would normally be charged. Both models deliver high-impact support while helping employees grow professionally.
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Location-based volunteering
You can connect employees with opportunities across all of the UK, including key hubs like London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. Local placements often deepen community ties and maximise relevance for employees.
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Corporate volunteering days & events
Team volunteering days are a popular format, often delivered as one-off or recurring events, enabling your employees to collaborate on meaningful activity. These can be in-person or virtual, providing flexibility for hybrid workplaces.
How to set up a corporate volunteering programme
Over 140 million employee volunteering hours went unused last year, as businesses struggled to turn intention into action. So how do you build a programme that truly engages your people and delivers results?
Planning & framework
Start with a clear purpose: Do you want to boost employee engagement, support strategic causes, or align with ESG goals?Or a mixture of all.
Key steps in programme planning:
- Set KPIs: e.g. participation rates, hours contributed, outcomes achieved
- Secure senior leadership buy-in to embed volunteering across teams
- Offer a range of opportunity types to suit different working patterns
- Develop policies on paid leave, registration and employee support.
Platform & software support
Digital tools can play an important role in scaling and managing volunteering efficiently.
Digital platforms like GoVo provide an end-to-end solution, including opportunity listings, impact tracking and reporting. Suitable for larger organisations looking to run programmes at scale, or smaller enterprises with just a few staff.
Building internal engagement
Even the best-designed programme won’t succeed without employee buy-in. From our research, we know many employees are eager to volunteer but struggle to find opportunities that match their skills, availability and interests.
- Identify internal champions to advocate across teams
- Promote volunteering through existing communication channels
- Recognise contributions with spotlight features or in performance reviews
- Provide easy-entry options like micro-volunteering and provide a range of different formats and causes to choose from
- Create a feedback loop to evolve the programme based on employee input
Done well, this helps volunteering become a natural part of company life, not just a one-off initiative.
Discover the Impact Stack
Turn volunteering into a system that creates impact for everyone with the Impact Stack – a flexible suite of consultancy, digital tools and services to embed volunteering into the heart of your business.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to pay for corporate volunteering?
Most volunteering is free, but some activities may involve costs to the employer (e.g., materials or team day logistics). Businesses may also invest in technology or consultancy to scale and improve outcomes
Can you put volunteering as employment?
Volunteering isn’t employment, but it’s a highly valuable experience. It demonstrates initiative, social responsibility, and transferable skills. Many people use volunteering to explore new sectors, build confidence, or transition into new roles. Employers increasingly recognise its professional relevance.
Where are volunteers most needed in the UK?
Research shows the UK is experiencing a growing shortage of volunteers, making it harder for charities to meet rising demand. Demand is high, particularly in sectors like health and social care, community outreach, youth mentoring, and digital inclusion. Rural areas often face gaps in support due to limited infrastructure, while urban centres may see high demand from underserved populations.
Why is corporate volunteering important?
It creates shared value for employees, employers and communities. Done well, it strengthens team cohesion, builds public trust and delivers measurable social impact on local issues – all while aligning with business goals.
Read more about the benefits of corporate volunteering
Ready to explore the possibilities?
Contact our team to find out how we can help you with your employee volunteering programme.