Back
6 Ways Your Workplace Can Volunteer in Your Community
By: Benefits by Design | Tuesday April 9, 2019
Updated : Tuesday December 15, 2020
National Volunteer Week is an annual, week-long celebration full of community activities, generosity of spirit, and volunteering. There are many different benefits of volunteering, both for employers and employees.
At Benefits by Design (BBD) Inc., we give our employees seven paid hours to go out into the community and volunteer. One of the things we’ve heard many times over the years is “I would love to go out and volunteer, but I don’t know where to go or what to do.”
Here are six easy ways to start volunteering and helping out in your community:
Idea #1: Search Online for Volunteer Opportunities
Online searches are a great way to find volunteer opportunities in your community! Try combining the name of your town or city with a keyword like “volunteering” or “volunteer opportunities.”
You can even look at opportunities that match your interests, such as “volunteering with the elderly” or “volunteer teaching opportunities.”
Idea #2: Organize an Employee Blood Donation
Donating blood with the Canadian Blood Services is a quick and easy (although not entirely painless) way to help out! Not everyone is eligible to donate blood, but you can take a two-minute online quiz to determine if you’re able to give blood.
Idea #3: Start a Workplace Volunteer Committee
At BBD, that’s our Benefits of Sharing Committee! They collaborate and organize volunteering events for our employees to participate in using their paid volunteer hours.
We’ve found employees are much more likely to go with others than on their own. Having a group of people doing a pre-determined activity is also much easier to organize.
Idea #4: Offer Paid Volunteer Hours
Speaking of paid volunteer hours, many employees want to volunteer but may not feel like they have the time. Employers who offer their workers some paid time off to help out their community get surprising benefits that outweigh the costs of paying someone not to be at work.
Don’t believe us? Check out the effects volunteer work can have on a person and their happiness and engagement.
Idea #5: Organize a Community Cleanup
You’ve probably seen the recent #trashtag trending online, where you take a picture of the messy area before and after clean up and share it online using the hashtag #trashtag.
It’s a fantastic social movement that benefits local communities and the world at large, and since it’s trending right now, employees will be all over it!
Idea #6: Consider Individual Passions
What do you or your employees enjoy doing when they’re not at work? You’ll have a more enjoyable time and get into things if it’s something you’re passionate about.
