“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s tougher to make a difference.”
– Tom Brokaw, journalist
From social media to 24-hour news, it seems we are bombarded with negativity from every angle. People say they yearn to disconnect, to take a break, when they likely want to connect or reconnect with the world and with themselves. After a long winter, April invites us to engage, energize, and even volunteer. Finding a place to connect your passion with your community reveals the power of connecting with people.
April is National Volunteer Month. The impact of volunteering in the USA is a set of impressive numbers:
- Over 23% of Americans (60 million people) volunteered from September 2020 and 2021.
- The hours added up to over 4 billion.
- The economic value is estimated at $122 billion.
- 51% of Americans (124 million people) informally volunteered their time to help a neighbor. (Those are great neighbors!)
If interested, you can see here how your state adds to these totals.
There are many benefits to volunteering:
- Whether we do it formally or informally, it helps make communities better places for everyone.
- Volunteering is good for overall health, promotes happiness, and can be a wonderful means of gaining new skills and experiences.
- Provides a sense of purpose beyond a paycheck
- Increases self-esteem
- Increases social skills
- Provides an improved sense of community
Many organizations provide opportunities for employees to either participate in paid volunteering with one of their corporate sponsors or one of the employee’s choices. According to a study by Deloitte, workplace volunteering has been shown to:
- Boost Team morale
- Improves the perception of the company brand
- Improves employee satisfaction with the employer and reduces turnover
- Increases employee engagement with their work and the employer
- Encourage employees to give back to their community.
In summary, everyone wins with volunteering! The employer, the employee, and the surrounding communities. If your organization would like some assistance in putting together a volunteer program for your organization, FIT HR would like to help.