Increased employee volunteering could boost UK business by £32.5bn, report reveals
The research, commissioned by national charity Royal Voluntary Service, estimated that each employee in professional or managerial roles could contribute an extra £5,239 in productivity every year.
Businesses could unlock £32.5bn in annual productivity gains they fully utilised their employee volunteering days, a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has revealed.
The research, commissioned by national charity Royal Voluntary Service, estimated that each employee in professional or managerial roles could contribute an extra £5,239 in productivity every year through volunteering, with potential gains even higher if broader job roles were factored in and more employees were offered volunteering time.
The study highlighted the significant gap between potential and reality.
While 62% of UK businesses now offer paid volunteering time – a figure that has grown notably in the last year – over 140 million volunteering hours went unused in the past 12 months.
Many companies struggle to connect staff with suitable opportunities, and only 19% of firms with volunteering schemes currently make them accessible to all employees.
In response to this underutilised potential, Royal Voluntary Service has announced a major new initiative: the Volunteering Marketplace.
It will provide a suite of services designed to help businesses build, embed and optimise their volunteering and social impact activities.
At the heart of the charity’s Volunteering Marketplace, is a new digital volunteering platform, currently in development thanks to a £5m investment from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
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