Employer Volunteer Schemes

John Lewis

Every employee at the John Lewis Partnership, which operates John Lewis department stores, Waitrose supermarkets and the direct services company Greenbee, is a Partner in the company. The John Lewis Partnership encourages all Partners to participate in employee volunteering programmes, actively forge links with, and become involved in the local communities in which they live and work.

The John Lewis Partnership realises that employee volunteering doesn’t just provide an opportunity to give something back to the local community, but that Partners can also develop new skills, benefit from increased confidence and motivation and creates opportunities for team building. John Lewis Partner, Teresa, spent a six month secondment volunteering with Hop, Skip and Jump, who provide a safe place for children with special needs to play. She worked on various projects and said “My John Lewis skills have come in useful at the centre but I have also learnt new abilities that have given me greater confidence and will help me do my job better.”
The Partnership promotes volunteering to their Partners in a number of ways:

• John Lewis's national time-bank enables Partners to undertake two days of community/charitable work per year during working hours.
• A national database for employee volunteering opportunities helps Partners understand requirements of roles such as School Governors, Magistrates, Special Constables etc.
• Senior management participation in BITC’s Seeing is Believing helps them gain a better understanding of the difference employee volunteering schemes can achieve.
• An independent registered charity, the Golden Jubilee Trust provides a forum through which Partners can volunteer to support charities and charitable projects and make a real and practical difference to the local communities in which they work, by enabling any Partner to volunteer for a part- or full-time secondment with a UK registered charity for up to six months. The scheme received a Business in the Community ‘Big Tick’ Award for Excellence in 2008.
• Charity and Community Committees have extended their brief to include promoting employee volunteering as well as cash and in-kind donations.

During 2007–08, John Lewis Partners contributed 53,404 hours to volunteering and an additional 22,500 hours were contributed through their Golden Jubilee Trust Scheme.

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Aviva (Norwich Union)

As well as supporting athletics in the UK from playground to podium, making it easier for athletes to reach their full potential and for the next generation to get active, stay healthy and learn key life skills, insurance group Aviva also encourage their employees to get involved with, and support their local communities.

They have introduced a new framework to guide their employee volunteering throughout the UK. This framework gives local offices the flexibility to decide where to focus their volunteering effort, as long as the activity supports one (or more) of the company's four business themes: Environment, Road Safety, Health, and Financial Education.

Aviva also strives to make it easy for employees to engage with local communities by offering paid leave for recognised volunteering programmes. Full time employees can volunteer for up to three days a year (or the equivalent amount of hours).

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Sky

All permanent employees at digital television company Sky can take up to 16 hours of paid work time each year to volunteer for any charity they choose. Their employee engagement programme, Joining In, supports Sky employees to get involved with community projects in a number of ways including volunteering and fundraising. Sky helps their employees get involved with volunteering by offering a menu of team or individual opportunities linked to the arts, sport and environment.

In 2009, Sky started a big push to get more people involved in their volunteering scheme; the number of employees participating in volunteering activities each month has risen from 1.28% in January 2009 to 4.78% by June. By the end of 2010, their aim is to see 25% of their staff volunteering.

Sky achieved the CommunityMark in 2009, which is a national standard that publicly recognises business excellence in community investment.

One project that has benefited from Sky’s employee volunteer programme is Street League; a charity that aims to transform the lives of disadvantaged men and women through sport.

In June 2009, 25 employees got involved when over 200 Street League players came down for their seasonal cup competition. Players came from all over Greater London, including those in difficult circumstances such as rough sleepers, those in sheltered accommodation and those in drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Sky staff not only made sure the event ran smoothly: from organising kit and administering the teams to keeping score and serving lunch, but also chatted with the players and made sure they had a fun and enjoyable experience. Jamie, a Sky Team Manager, was an enthusiastic volunteer: “I thought it was a great day, I felt like we were really doing something worthwhile to encourage all involved to enjoy and take part in a team game. I haven’t volunteered for something like this for a few years now, but I will definitely do it again.”

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npower

Energy supplier npower actively encourages employees to take time out during working hours to help the community. They have national partnerships with several organisations including Macmillan Cancer Support, The National Trust and the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS). npower employees give their time to events and activities carried out by these, and other, organisations, whether that’s timekeeping and marshalling at an EFDS competition, managing a National Trust community day or helping out with a school pond dip for a local Wildlife Trust.

Last year, 1500 employee volunteers were involved with local community projects. Their work has strengthened the relationship between the company and the local community and gives employees excellent team-building and personal development opportunities.

Many of their employees support charitable or community groups in their spare time including coaching junior football teams and acting as treasurers for local charities. npower recognise this through their Employee Volunteering Award Scheme which makes financial contributions of up to £500 to not-for-profit organisations that employees volunteer with. In 2008, 159 awards were made amounting to £78,880. Examples of awards made in the past year include;

• £500 to East Leeds Cricket Club for a catching cradle and cricket tops for the junior team
• £300 to North East BMX Club for protective equipment including elbow pads, knee pads and helmets
• £500 to Prestatyn Athletic Junior Football Club for portable goal posts

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