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April 29, 2008

Volunteer Opportunities Help Companies Attract Young Workers

More companies are offering employees the option to volunteer for charity while receiving a company salary, as a way to build employees’ skills and attract young workers, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Instead of encouraging employees to volunteer to do basic tasks – like feeding the homeless or cleaning up parks – many companies are now lending their employees to nonprofit organizations with the condition that the charities find ways to use the professional skills of the employee volunteers.

After these volunteer work assignments, employees “come back with more substantial leadership skills and a better strategic sense of how to navigate in different types of environments,” says Robert Mallett, a senior vice president at Pfizer, in New York, and president of the pharmaceutical giant’s corporate foundation.

Many young employees say that corporate volunteer programs can be a crucial selling point for a job. A 2006 survey of adolescents and young adults by Cone, a marketing company in Boston, found that 79 percent want their employers to demonstrate a commitment to society. Major companies, looking to the retirement of the baby-boom generation, are using corporate volunteer programs as a way to respond to those needs and attract and keep young workers.

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