Volunteer Release Policies: Is it necessary to have one?

Ninety-two percent of companies provide volunteer opportunities. Seventy percent provide opportunities on workdays, weekends and after hours, but ninety-five percent of companies do not maintain formal release policies. For a majority of these companies, the decision-making authority is typically left to the employee's immediate supervisor. By giving supervisors this discretion, participation becomes subjective. To avoid subjective decision making, it is important for workplaces to develop a formal release policy, which incorporates the employees' supervisors, but also establishes formal criteria. The criteria should define who, with whom, when, how and how often employees may volunteer.

One example is Blue Cross and Blue Shield's policy where employees with at least 6 months of service have access to 20 hours of paid time off for volunteer service, provided the organization and activity adheres to their guidelines. To use volunteer PTO, the employee must complete an application and secure prior approval from their supervisor.

Compensating employees who volunteer in company-sponsored activities, particularly those that take place during the workday, is a hot-bed of contention among community relation professionals. Most companies believe in and support the notion that volunteering, by definition, is a personal act in which employee's give of their time and talent, without the expectation of being paid or compensated. However, statistics show there are a significant and growing number of companies believe in compensating employees for volunteering on their behalf. Compensation of employees typically takes on two forms: compensating employees who participate in company-sponsored events and activities and during the workday by not forcing them to use personal paid leave; and providing employees with paid leave to volunteer in their own chosen activities and organizations.

Thrivent Financial operates a program called "shared release time" (SRT) where the employee and company "share" responsibility for time used to participate in corporate-sponsored workday volunteer activities. An employee using SRT matches half of the total time used by either taking paid time off or by making up the time.

For more examples of volunteer release policies, visit the Hot Question section.

Statistics and excerpts taken from "Corporate Volunteerism Innovative Practices for the 21st Century" published by LBG Associates.

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