Employee volunteerism: an exploratory study of recruiting volunteers in the workplace

Abstract

As the need for volunteers accelerates and supply remains stagnant, it becomes imperative for charitable organisations and the non-profit sector to find new sources from which to recruit volunteers. Many volunteer organisations have identified the workplace as a primary under-tapped source of volunteer labour. This study examines possible methods or recruiting volunteers from the workplace by interviewing 27 individuals employed with one of six corporations. The semi-structured interviews led to discussions regarding employees’ views on corporate sponsorship of volunteer programmes, agents promoting volunteerism, methods of recruiting volunteers, motives for volunteering, and reasons for not volunteering. The findings indicate that corporate support for volunteering was not a strong influencing factor, but personal benefits in the form of social camaraderie, companionship, and connections with others were the primary motivating factors for volunteering. Employee propensity to volunteer, based on a perceived positive social outcomes, suggests a focus for practice as well as further research.