We’ve talked before about the professional benefits of volunteering and how it can help fuel success in one’s career. We certainly recommend you check that out, but today let’s talk about another benefit that volunteering and community service can have for a company: namely, employee engagement and teambuilding.
One important thing to keep in mind when it comes to volunteering is that giving back to the community can bring value in many ways.
In this day and age it is as important as ever, if not more so, that we do our part to make impactful contributions within our communities.
This is a daunting task to say the least but made easier when an organization makes service part of its core values. We’ve talked about the personal career benefits of volunteering and they are all still relevant when the company itself organizes the opportunities. In addition, it may help motivate people who are still unsure to take that step into volunteerism and engaging with their community.
One of the reasons that people can feel disengaged from work is a sense of being unfilled or feeling that they aren’t making any real change.
Community service promoted in the workplace can help fight off these feelings, especially when a whole team works together to bring about good.
This allows volunteers to see the overall benefit to the community at large in addition to helping employees feel better about their employer. According to the 2017 Doing Good is Good For You Study, nearly 75% of volunteering employees reported feeling more positively towards their workplace as a result of workplace-related volunteer opportunities. Feeling better about your employer also helps improve morale and fight burnout while keeping employee engagement high.
Additionally, engaging with coworkers in this way is a great opportunity to get to know those you work with in a different light.
It’s one thing to go to a holiday party or a work-sponsored happy hour; community service on the other hand helps to connect likeminded individuals with common interests and passions.
We are all used to working with peers and leadership within the confines of the workplace. By spending time working together on community projects, we can get to know them personally, and form greater bonds that encourage more effective teamwork.
Any organization can direct itself towards community service. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing we are too busy: everyone is busy, and if time is to be had, community contributions and service have to be prioritized. We live and work as part of communities, and it is not only good for the community itself when we give back, it is also good for workers and teams in promoting engagement and camaraderie. Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”