Abbey National – 30,000 staff

Motivating employee volunteers

Alan Eagle's role as Assistant Manager of the Abbey National Community Partnership is to identify opportunities for staff who want to volunteer. 'We run a matched time scheme where staff can claim up to 35 hours of paid work time per year to match their own volunteering time commitment. We also have a pre-retirement programme, and have an intranet database that lists volunteering opportunities.

'Our staff volunteer because they're seeking new kinds of experiences and opportunities to use personal qualities that their paid work does not offer. Voluntary organisations need to think about these motivations and be creative when trying to attract employee volunteers. As with other volunteers it's important to focus on an individual's skills rather than your stereotypes of them.

'Why would a banker necessarily want to be a treasurer in their spare time? Working in an office environment is unlikely to appeal to staff who do that all week, they're more likely to be attracted by outdoor activities like conservation. People who work in a call centre are likely to appreciate the opportunity to work face to face. Voluntary organisations often pigeonhole people from the corporate sector assuming that they've never done anything else. But we have a real mix of employees. Employee volunteers are like any other volunteers - they need to feel that their contribution is worth it. To ensure this, organisations need to offer volunteer roles that are properly thought out.

'We make it easy for employees to volunteer, partly because it makes good business sense. If we retain a member of staff for six months more because we've encouraged them to volunteer, that saves us thousands of pounds. Community goals are treated the same way as any other business goal because community involvement is part of our core business. An employee who volunteers can specify personal objectives for community activities, as well as work related goals, in their annual appraisal. If they achieve those goals they are financially rewarded.'

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