5 pieces of Advice from Barclays on Employee Volunteering

Charlotte Tomlins, Senior Colleague Engagement Officer at Barclays, talks about the importance of skills-based volunteering within corporations. Barclays is one of the largest banks in the UK, and the institution puts a lot of effort into employee engagement through volunteering. Here are the top 5 pieces of advice about employee volunteering she would give to someone in her position at a small company, looking to put employee initiatives at the core of what they do.

1. Your volunteering program needs to support your values as a business. You don’t need to make it a huge, complicated business either – smaller local charities are crying out for support in all shapes and sizes, so creating local activities will increase that sense of local community and you can see the impact it’s having. From last year’s employee survey 86% of our colleagues are proud of the contribution Barclays makes to the community and society.
2. It may feel counter-intuitive to give colleagues paid time to volunteer, but by giving them opportunities to develop skills outside of the day-to-day role, they will bring these skills back into your business and help you grow too. Make sure that colleagues returning to the business after an activity share what they’ve done and what they’ve learnt, and if they didn’t quite get out of it what they wanted, make sure they’re honest so you can learn for next time.
3. Remember everyone is different so make sure you have a wide range of volunteering opportunities that suit the skills and personalities in your teams
4. Don’t make it a tick box exercise, always encourage volunteering but don’t force it or else everyone loses
5. Lead by example – if leadership are volunteering, sharing experiences and showing how it’s making a difference you’ll inspire your colleagues to do the same

Read the full interview with Charlotte Tomlins here.

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