Are you looking for ways to boost employee health and well-being, create connections for remote workers, increase employee morale, job satisfaction, and camaraderie — all while being a more socially conscious workplace? Consider an employee volunteering program.   

This video shows the researched-backed benefits.

Interested? Here are four to-dos to get the ball rolling:

1. Choose volunteer opportunities that match your organization’s values.
2. Give all employees a voice in the choice of volunteer opportunities.
3. Get leadership approval and support.
4. Create a communication plan and get the word out to all employees.

This guide provides you with everything you need to know about implementing an employee volunteer program at your workplace. 

Below are five employee volunteering opportunities with metro area organizations. Choose volunteering opportunities for employees based on your organization’s current COVID protocols.

1.     Share job expertise

Employees have a lot of unique skills that other people in the community could benefit from. Volunteers can share their knowledge about key business skills, conduct mock interviews, critique resumes, or hold workshops about employment topics. Two local organizations that have these types of volunteer opportunities are:

www.twincitiesrise.org

resource-MN.org

2.     Organize a public space cleanup

Employees who are passionate about the environment can organize a public space cleanup in the community. This is a great way to reduce litter and pollution and be active outdoors.

3.     Group volunteering onsite

Ronald McDonald House Groups can volunteer to purchase, prepare, and serve meals to families staying at the house, which provides housing for families of ill children who are receiving medical care far from home. 

Simpson Housing Groups can put together gift baskets for women moving from homelessness to housing, collect diapers for under-resourced families, tutor children in reading, provide meals for the homeless shelter, and much more.  

Children’s Minnesota Groups can assist by providing snacks and beverages for families during their stay at Children’s Hospital, host a seasonal party for patients and their families, assemble activity packets for patients and siblings, or hold a drive for items on the Children’s wish list.

Feed My Starving Children Groups can hand-pack meals, which are then donated to food partners around the world.

4.     Organize a blood drive

Organize a blood drive in your workplace or assign a day where your employees can donate to their local bank.

Memorial Blood Centers

Donate Blood, Platelets or Plasma. Give Life | Red Cross Blood

5.     Collect and donate pet food

Organize a challenge for employees to collect as much pet food as possible over the course of a month. When collections are complete, check with a local animal shelter or use a service like Pets of the Homeless to find a donation site.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is:  What are you doing for others?”

                             ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Click here to read this month's E-tips for your employees: "Want to try something new?
Consider volunteering!" If you have trouble accessing the document, try a different web browser.

To share these E-tips with employees, you can:  

• Email the E-tips document to your staff as an attachment. 1) Click the link to download and save the E-tips to your computer. 2) Add your organization's logo in the bottom left corner. 3) Then send it as an email attachment to staff. 
• Print the document once you've added your organization's logo and post it in a common area in your workplace.
• Copy and paste the text into your organization's newsletter