Building Social Economy through Employee Volunteering Programs in Canadian Financial Institutions

1. Building Social Economy through Employee Volunteering Programs in Canadian Financial Institutions Femida Handy, University of Pennsylvania Agnes Meinhard, Ryerson University Itay Greenspan, University of Pennsylvania

2. Background • Legislation requires Public Accountability Statements (PAS) from all financial institutions with over $1 billion in equity. • PAS requires financial institutions to outline the economic and social contributions to their communities. • One innovative way to meet these community obligations is by instituting an Employer-Supported Volunteering (ESV) program. • Indeed, analysis of PAS reports shows a recent focus on ESV initiatives, mostly in local Canadian communities, but in some cases worldwide through their many international operations.  

3. Definition • ESV refers to volunteer activities that employees perform in the community with some form of support or encouragement from their employer. • Following Graff (2004), we refer to ESV as a continuum wherein the employer absorbs all or part of the costs of employee volunteering, thereby providing them incentives to volunteer.

4. Purpose of this study • To assess the value of employer supported volunteering - the benefits and costs to the employer and volunteers.  

5. Research Questions • Have ESV programs generated an increase in volunteering?  • What are the costs and benefits to the employer and employee? • What are the human resource management challenges in setting up and running ESV programs?   • What motivates employees to participate?   • What are the opportunities and challenges faced by employer and employees?   • What are the impacts on partnering nonprofits?   • What are the successful and not successful experiences of ESV programs?  

6. Research Phases • Phase 1: Interviews with Directors of ESV programs – completed. • Phase 2: Survey of Employees volunteering in the institutions – in progress

7. Phase 1: Summary of Results • Ten financial institutions contacted • Eight agreed to be interviewed • 5 banks (The Big Five) • 3 insurance companies

8. Types of Programs • Institutional projects • Mostly employee initiated fundraising projects for good causes in partnership with one or more charitable organizations • Credit for volunteering • Recognizing employee volunteering by donating to the employee’s charity of choice - matching money to time

9. Credit Program • Varies from the low hundreds to about 1000 volunteer grants per year • Volunteer hours required for matching grants: from 20-60 • Grants range from $500 - $1000 peremployee

10. Institutional Programs • Generally regional in nature, sometimes branch driven • Some programs are larger and more centralized • Team programs are often on company time

11. Time-off Policy for Volunteering • Most organizations do not have policies regarding time-off for volunteering • Accommodation for volunteering time-off is done at the discretion of the manager • Usually in situations where replacement of employee is not an issue

12. Participation • Slow growth in participation • Only a small percentage of employees participate • Very little feedback and communication is an acknowledged problem

13. Research challenges • Much information not readily shared • Lack of statistical tracking • ESV secondary to general philanthropic giving • ESV donations are out of general philanthropy budget