August 7, 2011: International News From the Field

RealizedWorth, the consulting team of Chris Jarvis and Angela Parker, works with companies to design and implement outstanding corporate volunteering programs. Their blog, "Realizing Your Worth" (http://realizedworth.blogspot.com), discusses corporate social responsibility news and current issues, and gives valuable tips to program leaders.

In the past few weeks, they have been running a series of posts under the title "The Business Case for Employee Volunteering," presented with this rationale: Employee volunteering has the capacity to generate important value for your company and community. This blog series offers compelling reasons why your business needs to invest (a bit more) in employee.

The most recent post is Case #7 is "Value Generation." Here’s a taste:

Despite the apparent self-interest of companies regarding employee volunteering, it is important to note that this self-interest is not at the expense of the interests of the public, but in collaboration with them. US companies intend to send nearly 2000 employee volunteers to 58 nations this year (up from just 280 in 2006). Stanley Litow, the President of IBM International Foundation views these 'citizen-diplomats' as something more than a means to making IBM more productive and profitable. These programs work toward a more civil society on a global scale, to the benefit of all.

The strategic importance of utilizing employees in local and international communities "for the benefit of all" is a powerful idea. Employee volunteering goes beyond the efforts of CSR strategies in its unique utilization of social capital. Corporate volunteering programs enable employees to mobilize their personal resources for broad social benefits.

The previous posts are:

• Business Case #1: Employee Volunteering Creates Employee Engagement
• Business Case #2: Employee Volunteering Attracts Better Talent
• Business Case #3: Employee Volunteering Is Employee Development
• Business Case #4: Employee Volunteering Offers A Competitive Advantage
• Business Case #5: Employee Volunteering Increased Corporate Intelligence
• Business Case #6: Employee Volunteering Reduces Health Care Costs