Majority of employees receive no time off for volunteering, research shows
Melanie May | 4 September 2019 | News
Almost two thirds of employees do not receive any days off for volunteering, research has shown.
According to a study by employee experience platform Perkbox, 63% of employees in the UK do not receive any days off from their work to volunteer.
The figure rises higher in certain industries: 75% of those working in Healthcare, Architecture, Engineering and Building industries do not receive any volunteering days from their employers.
Overall, 16% of all workers receive only one day off to volunteer, and 12% receive more than one day.
Professional Services and Arts & Culture are the sectors most likely to allow employees several days off to contribute to charities. Almost a quarter (24%) in these industries get more than one day off a year for volunteering.
Those who work in Healthcare (8%), Retail, Catering and Leisure (7%), and Sales, Media and Marketing (4%) are the least likely to be given more than one day off to volunteer.
When comparing across the country, London allows for the most volunteering days, with 41% of its workers receiving either one or more CSR days annually. This is followed by the North East, with 35% receiving the same amount. Those in Scotland are least likely to be given any days off to volunteer, with 75% of its workers stating that they do not receive any CSR days from their work.
42% of employed people state that they personally would most like to give back to healthcare charities through a variety of methods, including raising sponsorship money from marathons, 33% would like to give back to their local community and 31% would choose environmental causes.
Perkbox also partnered with TalentPool to find what CSR practices job hunters would like to see their next employer involved in. ‘Addressing climate change’ (33%) and ‘helping the local community’ (30%) are most important, followed by ‘fundraising for charitable causes around the world’ (24%) and ‘driving healthcare initiatives’ (13%).
Chieu Cao, Co-founder at Perkbox said:
“It’s clear that workplaces need to be doing more to allow employees to take time and contribute to charities. With already limited personal time, without being given volunteering days, those in full-time positions must fit volunteering into their evenings and weekends, causing them to juggle commitments. This often means that volunteering can fall to the back burner – affecting both social consciousness and society itself.
“By allowing employees to give back to the wider community and the charitable causes that matter to them most, it can fulfil an important sense of purpose and allow people to use their skills in a different way from their day-to-day work, in turn, contributing to overall employee happiness. Companies must look past their own goals to identify the needs of society as a whole, as those with employees who want to help have a real chance to make a change.”
Advertisement
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.