How Employee Volunteering Boosts Retention

Introduction 

Nowadays, employees are looking to achieve meaningful tasks both in their professional and personal lives and employee satisfaction and engagement are leading reasons why employees decide to stay at a company. Furthermore, companies understand that corporate work can only satisfy employees so much and have started to implement corporate social responsibility values into their organizations. In fact, 50% of corporations give back because it builds healthy and strong communities, 48% of corporations give back because it fits with their values and culture, and 45% of corporates contribute to giving back because they believe it is the right thing to do. 

The current trend for organizations is to move past the monetary dollar value that they can offer their employees and instead, give them an opportunity to achieve purpose within their community which would, in turn, create a sense of culture and values within the organization, improve employee satisfaction and engagement, and boosts employee retention rate.

What causes employees to leave organizations

Employees regularly come into an organization and lots of employees leave organizations. There is a multitude of reasons why an employee may leave an organization. Some may have found another job, they may have relocated, they may have retired, they may need a higher salary job, or they have had a negative experience at the company. However, one of the leading causes of why employees leave corporations is that they are unhappy with the company. More than one-third of employees who end up leaving their jobs were unhappy with their experience. 

For simplicity’s sake, we’ll break down the top reasons why employees leave organizations 4 parts: 

1. Their work was not meaningful

These days, employees want their work to be challenging and to be meaningful at the end because work takes up the majority of their week. If an employee works 5 days a week, that leaves them only 2 days on the weekends to accomplish other things that they want to do. However, these days may be filled up with their hobbies or are out of their control, such as taking their kids to their extracurriculars. 

Because of this, employees want their work to be engaging and contribute to something meaningful. According to a study, no more than 13% of employees found that their work was meaningful. Furthermore, 27% of employees who join a new organization state that the main reason for joining was the opportunity to do more meaningful work. With employees not feeling challenged within their organization, they believe that they should find another job that would challenge them to achieve significance within the organization, whether it be personally or professionally. 

2. Disconnect with company culture 

72% of workers would leave their current job for a company with a more inclusive culture. Employees want a work culture where they are able to engage and communicate freely with whoever and communication is transparent. They want the direction of the company to be clear and their bosses to be approachable but also respected. If an employer’s mission is unclear to an employee and the employee does not know how they contribute overall to the goals, they may seek a company that has clearer goals and direction. 

Moreover, having a work-life balance is important to an employee, as employees don’t want to be burden with the thought of work all the time which would result in the employee constantly feeling burnt out. A job where employers value employees’ personal time can be a deciding factor on whether an employee leaves or stays their current job.

3. Values are not aligned with the company 

Company values are important to an employee because it allows the employee to connect with the company on a more personal level. Also, connecting with a company would allow the employee to feel more comfortable with the people, structure, and work which would result in the employee being open and transparent with feedback. If employers do not take the feedback and implement it, employees feel underappreciated and would rather look for a new job where their input and opinions are heard and recognized. Furthermore, a company’s flexibility is valued by employees, as it allows them options and choices such as flexible work schedules or working from home, which results in the employee being happier.

4. Lack of engagement 

69% of employees say that they will work harder if they were better appreciated. A workplace that struggles with communication is evident in its employee retention, as employees tend to leave when there has been a disconnect in communication with managers and executives. Engaged employees are the ones who are involved, enthusiastic, and committed to their workplace and work. When a workplace fails to engage employees in their line of work, they become unhappy and unaligned with the companies goals. 

The lack of workplace recognition can lead to employees not feeling rewarded for their incentives and lead to a loss in retention. Recognizing employees can go a long way and finding out what motivates them to achieve the companies goals and initiatives can result in more employees staying overtime. 

How Employee Volunteering Can Boost Retention

Retention has been an integral part of an organization’s success, as it allows the company to stay productive and continue its development. Despite this, when employees do leave the organization, there are multiple setbacks such as a decrease in organizational morale, loss in productivity, decrease in revenue, loss of company knowledge, and more. The cost of going through the recruitment process to replace the lost employee can be a substantial amount and the training and learning process the employee has to go through takes up a considerable amount of time as well. 

Employee volunteering has the potential to increase an organization’s retention rate. Volunteering allows employees to explore opportunities outside of work and enable employees to connect with their community. Furthermore, an employee’s relationship with the company can be positively influenced by volunteering, as employees feel more valued, which would lead to them staying longer. We have outlined 3 important ways how employee volunteering can increase retention rate. 

1. Improved Employee Satisfaction 

According to a study, 80% of employees are more satisfied when the work that they are doing is impactful and engaging. When employees believe that the company that they are working for is trying to achieve something meaningful, they will be more motivated to achieve the company’s goal while having personal development opportunities. Also, employees gain a sense of pride, as they understand that their company is not just trying to achieve a profit but trying to achieve the bigger picture by impacting their communities. 

Giving employees an opportunity to volunteer for their communities, specifically during work hours, creates a sense of identity between the company and the employees while also creating a bond between the employee and the community. This results in the employee being more productive and motivated to understand the company’s goals and objectives, which in turn increases the retention rate. Moreover, employees enjoy working at a company that has a good public image, and companies displaying that they are committed to making a difference within the community to the public eye will cause the company to attract and retain their employees.

2. Increased creativity

Corporate social responsibility allows employees to be immersed in their communities, explore new opportunities outside of work, and generating new ideas. In fact, research shows that employee productivity increases by 13% when their organization is engaged in CSR. By generating new ideas, employees will feel empowered to contribute innovative ideas to the company. Employees may implement new solutions to the company or come up with new products that can generate profitability. Employees might become connected to their new invention and will likely stay with the organization that helped them develop their ideas and see their own future and success tied into the organization’s success. 

By engaging in corporate social responsibility, companies will have the chance to create new strategies within their industries and partner with nonprofit organizations. This will allow employees the chance to connect with a nonprofit that has similar passions and goals and encourage volunteering within the company, which could be used to generate more practical ideas and developing the relationship between the company and employees. 

3. Connection with the company, colleagues, and management

When organizations implement corporate social responsibility, employees are more likely to engage in cooperative behaviors with other employees. Specifically, if the employees have worked together on a volunteer project together, employees will go out of their way to help their teammate that they have already established a relationship. By already having an established relationship with other colleagues, employees develop a more personal connection with the company and will want to stay to further develop high-quality relationships.

Moreover, when management encourages their employees to volunteer, they enable their employees to develop their own personal goals and employees will feel a sense of identification with the company.  This increased identification will mean employees are happier to be on the job and will feel a deeper connection to the work they’re doing. 

Summary

Retention is important to consider for companies, as it is essential for the company to meet its goals and objectives. 

Allowing employees the opportunity to volunteer in their community can be highly beneficial. Employees are able to make an impact within their community and be re-energized in their work. Furthermore, they are able to find meaning behind their work which leads to them having a greater connection to the company, improved positivity, and satisfaction, and generate new strategic ideas that can solve the organization’s problems.

Corporate social responsibility is important in this day and age and employees are eager to engage with their communities. There has never been a better time or need to get started in meaningful work. Ready to boost your retention rate with skill-based volunteering? We’re happy to help!

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