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Rise in hybrid work leads to surge in corporate volunteerism: Benevity

There has been a surge in corporate volunteerism as companies seek ways to address the challenges of employee connection in a hybrid work world, according to new global research from Calgary-based Benevity.

The State of Corporate Volunteering revealed a 57% year-over-year increase in the rate of global employee volunteering participation and a 41% year-over-year increase in the total number of volunteer hours dedicated by companies and their people.

Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been a 15% increase in the prevalence of companies running volunteering initiatives as part of their employee engagement programs.

The surge in volunteering comes at a time when companies are looking for ways to more effectively engage their employees, both in the office and remotely, while driving social and business impact.

Rise in in-person volunteering

The report found in-person volunteering saw a major rise with participation 3.6 times greater than the previous year. At the same time, 51% of hours associated with volunteer opportunities on the Benevity platform were virtual (compared to 23% before the pandemic), allowing remote or hybrid employees to participate and donate their time and skills to nonprofits they care about from anywhere.

As companies increased their investment in employee volunteering programs, there was an influx of new volunteers — 65% of volunteers logged their first hours in the past year — providing a vital source of support for nonprofits who are struggling to attract and retain talent in a volatile economy.

Other key findings

Other key findings from the study include:

• Companies see 12 times the participation when providing flexibility by promoting both volunteer opportunities created by the company and opportunities initiated by employees.
• On average, companies that leveraged team volunteering saw 7.5 times the volunteering participation rate; companies that supported employee-created volunteer opportunities averaged 2.7 times the volunteering participation rate and those who promoted company-wide volunteering events saw 2.5 times the volunteering participation rate.
• 60% of companies offer rewards, such as dollars employees can donate to the nonprofit of their choice in exchange for volunteer hours; rewards are correlated with further engagement, with the average number of volunteer hours per volunteer 50% higher in companies that offer rewards.
• While volunteering still encompasses traditional corporate volunteering events, the majority of programs now include Volunteer Acts of Kindness (VAOK), which include mutual aid or positive actions that are not in direct support of a nonprofit, such as helping a neighbor in need, attending a learning session hosted by an employee resource group or participating in a beach or park cleanup; 80% of companies allow VAOK and the category makes up 35% of total volunteer hours. VAOK can act as an entry point for further social action, particularly for Gen Z workers, who are not as engaged in traditional volunteering as their millennial or Gen X counterparts.
• European and Asia-Pacific countries showed higher rates of participation than those in North America, reflecting how volunteering in those regions is a more common, accessible and culturally valued way of giving back to one’s community.

“We know that workers who are engaged in company social impact programs are less likely to leave their companies, and a recent study showed that among corporate wellness programs, participation in charity or volunteer work stands out as one of the few interventions that leads to improved well-being,” said Sona Khosla, Benevity’s chief impact officer.

The State of Corporate Volunteering report analyzed data from 473 companies with active volunteering programs on the Benevity platform from April 1, 2022 to March 30, 2023, representing 18 countries and 12.9 million users.