A 2020 Vision for Employer-Supported Volunteering - Accenture

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A 2020 Vision for Employer-Supported Volunteering - Accenture
A 2020 Vision for
Employer-Supported
Volunteering
A 2020 Vision for Employer-Supported Volunteering - Accenture
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Foreword
BY 2020, WE ANTICIPATE
AN EVOLUTION IN THE
VOLUNTEERING LANDSCAPE
ACROSS THE UK.

Employer-Supported Volunteering
(ESV) is expected to have undergone
unprecedented growth and change,
driven by a blend of economic,
technological and policy factors.
Organisations who embrace
this change have a tremendous
opportunity to make a greater social
impact, while also benefiting their
own businesses.

Accenture UK’s 2020 vision for ESV
highlights five emerging trends and
offers recommendations to help
businesses looking to create or
improve their ESV programmes to
maximise social impact.

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A 2020 Vision for Employer-Supported Volunteering - Accenture
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Introduction
VOLUNTEERING IS A            Through ESV programmes,                   Volunteering boosts employee             Volunteering can develop stronger
POWERFUL WAY TO POSITIVELY   businesses encourage their staff          engagement and pride                     customer relationships
                             to participate in volunteering
IMPACT SOCIETY. THE OFFICE   opportunities in local communities        89%                                      17%
OF NATIONAL STATISTICS       and with voluntary sector groups.2                                                 of volunteers said volunteering had
                                                                       of volunteers reported increased
CALCULATED THE ECONOMIC      Often organisations team with
                                                                       job satisfaction.                        helped them to develop stronger client
VALUE OF VOLUNTEERING        voluntary sector partners based on                                                 relationships.
TO BE £23.9 BILLION PER
                             alignment to the vision and values
                             of their organisation, and the skills
                                                                       87%                                      The greatest benefit of ESV 4, however,
YEAR, ACCOUNTING FOR 1.5                                               of volunteers reported greater pride     lies in its potential for greater
                             their employees can offer. In addition
                                                                       in the company.                          social impact. Contributions of time
PERCENT OF THE UK’S GROSS    to the social benefits, there is also a
                                                                                                                and relevant skills from employee
DOMESTIC PRODUCT.1           strong business case for ESV.             Volunteering develops people
                                                                                                                volunteers can be a tremendous asset
                                                                       and fundamentally strengthens
                             Research points to clear benefits                                                  to the voluntary sector, as well as the
                                                                       the business
                             of ESV programmes for the                                                          wider community.
                             employer, the employee and the            76%
                             wider community.3 For example,
                                                                       of volunteers said they developed
                             Accenture’s United Kingdom/Ireland
                                                                       core work skills.
                             2015 Employee Volunteering Survey
                             highlights the strong business case
                             for ESV in the following results:

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A 2020 Vision for Employer-Supported Volunteering - Accenture
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Findings
BASED ON OUR RESEARCH,                 TREND 1                                  TREND 2                                    TREND 3
                                       ESV AS THE STANDARD,                     ESV CAPITALISATION                         THE RISE OF
EXPERIENCE AND                         NOT THE DIFFERENTIATOR                                                              MICRO-VOLUNTEERING

CONSULTATION WITH
PARTNERS, WE HAVE          With encouragement from the               The voluntary sector is facing new        Micro-volunteering is growing fast,
IDENTIFIED FIVE TRENDS,    government, ESV programmes are            challenges to accommodate the             and ESV has the potential to speed
WHICH WE EXPECT TO         likely to become part of the fabric of    anticipated growth in the number of       its growth. Easy and on-demand
IMPACT THE ESV LANDSCAPE   large UK companies. Businesses that       volunteers. Businesses will need to       opportunities to volunteer can
                           wish to lead the way and maximise         help the voluntary sector absorb this     minimise the administrative side of
FUNDAMENTALLY OVER THE
                           their social impact will not only         support in a way that drives positive     volunteering and open the door to
NEXT FIVE YEARS:           need to look for opportunities to         social outcomes. They will also have      a new crop of employee volunteers
                           increase employee participation in        to be vigilant to ensure their own        interested in opportunities which are
                           volunteering, but also to closely align   programmes respond to the needs of        more convenient.
                           their volunteer offerings to the actual   the voluntary sector without
                           needs of the voluntary sector.            creating additional work and costs.

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Findings
            TREND 4                                   TREND 5                      Businesses and the voluntary sector can both benefit
            THE DIGITAL SKILLS GAP                    THE INTERNET OF ME           from the anticipated changes in ESV during the next five
                                                                                   years. By structuring ESV programmes to embrace these
                                                                                   five trends, there is an opportunity for businesses to
Digital skills are in high demand;         Highly-personalised and connected       greatly increase their net social impact, drive employee
yet, there is a lack of talent to fill     experiences are increasingly the
                                                                                   engagement, and help transform the way the world
this need. The voluntary sector is no      expectation for individuals—whether
exception with a significant portion       working, shopping or socialising. ESV   works and lives.
lacking basic digital skills, as well as   programmes that can offer highly-
the right knowledge and experience         personalised options and experiences
to improve their digital capabilities.     may help increase the number of
ESV programmes can bring access            employees volunteering.
to technology, digital capacity-
building and overall digital skills
training that can better position the
voluntary sector to maximize reach
and impact.

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A 2020 Vision for Employer-Supported Volunteering - Accenture
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ESV as the standard, not the differentiator
                                     Available research shows that        resource adjustments, and                 BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
THE UK GOVERNMENT HAS                Employer-Supported Volunteering      sponsorship from senior leadership.
                                                                                                                    Embracing ESV provides
PLEDGED TO MANDATE                   (ESV) is growing in the UK with 70
                                                                          Organisations with established            organisations with an opportunity
LARGER COMPANIES                     percent of FTSE 100 companies
                                                                          ESV programmes will need to               to grow their social impact and
                                     and 20 percent of small- to
AND THE PUBLIC SECTOR                                                     differentiate themselves to stay          gain business benefits. In addition
                                     medium- sized enterprises (SMEs)
TO OFFER EMPLOYEES                                                        ahead. Businesses have typically          to further investing in their own
                                     offering ESV. 5 6 7 From 2010-2011
                                                                          tried to differentiate themselves         ESV programmes, businesses with
A NEW VOLUNTEERING                   to 2013-2014, the percentage of
                                                                          by offering varying levels of paid        established ESV programmes can
ENTITLEMENT OF THREE                 people in paid work participating
                                                                          employee volunteering days;               increase social impact by collaborating
DAYS A YEAR, ON FULL PAY.            in ESV increased from 10.5 to 13.3
                                                                          however, the true measure lies            with, sharing learnings with, and
                                     percent.8 These percentages will
                                                                          not in the quantity of time offered       offering guidance to businesses
                                     increase much further once any
                                                                          or volunteered, but rather in the         building new ESV programmes,
                                     legislation takes effect.9
                                                                          quality and impact resulting from         or improving existing ones.
                                                                          the volunteer engagement.10
                                     BUSINESS IMPACT
                                                                          With the potential for all big
                                     For many organisations without ESV
                                                                          companies in the UK to offer ESV,
                                     programmes, offering three paid
                                                                          organisations who wish to lead the
                                     volunteering days can help improve
                                                                          way will seek to look to the quality
Conservative Party Manifesto, 2015   employee engagement and spark
                                                                          of volunteering and the overall
                                     overall culture change. Building
                                                                          social impact to the voluntary sector
                                     such a programme will require
                                                                          and wider community.
                                     organisations to consider factors
                                     such as new financial forecasting,

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BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS

Businesses setting up new ESV programmes

• Align your volunteering                 — Strategic objectives               — Team with partners to
  programme to your                       with measurable Key                  understand what types of ESV
  organisation’s corporate                Performance Indicators.              work best for them to empower
  community investment strategy;                                               the voluntary sector rather than
                                        • Select voluntary sector partners
  stimulate dialogue and obtain                                                divert their resources.
                                          who have experience in ESV.
  leadership support for ESV                                                 • Use technology as an enabler
                                          Factors to consider:
  programmes within the business                                               to connect employees with
                                          — Ensure partners have capacity
  (and across all levels) and highlight                                        volunteering opportunities:
  the benefits (see page 3).              to host volunteers.
                                          — Look for partners who map to       — Utilise online volunteering
• Determine the needs of                                                       platforms to reduce the burden
                                          the locations in which your
  the community to see what                                                    on employer, employee and the
                                          business operates to allow equal
  volunteer opportunities would be                                             voluntary sector organisation. For
  a good match.                           opportunity for employees to
                                                                               example, Accenture has partnered
                                          participate.
• Assess the requirements                                                      with a number of voluntary sector
  to implement an ESV                                                          organisations who offer a wide
  programme, including:                                                        range of online mentoring and
  — Supporting policies                                                        CV-clinic opportunities that allow
  and processes;                                                               employees to volunteer remotely,
                                                                               increasing accessibility and
  — Cultural change to
                                                                               feasibility of volunteering.
  encourage participation;
  — Resourcing to support the
  programme management;

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BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS

Businesses with established ESV programmes looking to maximise impact

• Measure and maximise                                                                      upside of additional volunteers            • Work with clients, suppliers and
  volunteering.                                                                             without increased costs (e.g.,               other organisations to enhance
                                                  -      $     x    %    =                  the cost to the voluntary sector             each other’s ESV programmes.
  Quantify the net value of your
  volunteering contribution and                                                             of hosting volunteers can often              — Provide guidance (e.g., gaining
  then look to maximise. This
                                        Average
                                       Employee
                                                       Cost of     % of
                                                      voluntary volunteers
                                                                             Businesses
                                                                              ESV Net
                                                                                            neutralise the benefit 12).                  internal support, creating
                                        Impact         sector                  Social
  can be calculated by using the                                              Impact      c) Increase the percentage of                  relationships with voluntary sector
  London Benchmarking Group                                                                   employees volunteering.                    partners) to help set up ESV
  Measurement Framework11 to            Then, maximise the value of your                    — Take into account barriers                 programmes for others.
  measure the volunteering impact       ESV programme by:                                   and other factors that impact                — Team with clients and suppliers
  and estimate the net value of                                                             volunteering (e.g., time, which is the       in addition to other organisations
  your ESV programme, taking into    a) Increasing the average employee
                                                                                            number one barrier,13 choice, culture        to share best practices and
  consideration:                         volunteering impact.
                                                                                            or attitude toward volunteering,             learnings to help bring existing
  — Input: volunteering hours           — Consider the type of                              and benefit to the individual.)              ESV programmes to the next level.
  contributed.                          volunteering. For example
                                        skills-based volunteering is
  — Output: activities delivered,
                                        more likely to have tangible
  numbers reached.
                                        impacts (e.g., getting people into
  — Impact: the changes that happen     employment, beneficiary skills
  to individuals, organisations and     development, etc.)
  the company, in the short or
                                    b) Focus on the cost to the voluntary
  longer-term, as a result of the
                                       sector of hosting volunteers and
  activity and hours committed.
                                       use ESV programme offerings
  — Cost of volunteering to            to help organisations derive the
  the voluntary sector.
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CASE STUDY:
Accenture’s ESV programme

Accenture in the UK has offered paid                                            support our goal of equipping more
                                        Last year alone, nearly a quarter
volunteering since 2001 and is                                                  than 3 million people globally with
                                        of our people spent almost
committed to providing our people                                               the skills to get a job or build a
with opportunities to make positive
contributions to the communities
                                          4,000 DAYS                            business by 2020 .

                                        volunteering accross the UK;            Our people bring the same passion
in which they work and live. Our
                                        that is:                                and rigor to our corporate citizenship
ESV programme in the UK, Time
to Volunteer, gives each employee         2,591 PEOPLE                          initiatives as they do to serving
                                                                                clients, and consider getting involved
the opportunity to volunteer in         committing over
                                                                                in their communities a key part of
their local community for three
days every year. Our leadership
                                          33,000 VOLUNTEER                      what makes Accenture a great place
                                                                                to grow a career. As one employee
recognises the programme as a key         HOURS                                 said in response to the
community investment and employee
                                                                                announcement of our 2020 corporate
engagement initiative.               We partner with organisations that         citizenship goals, “There are a lot of
                                     have needs aligned to the volunteer        reasons to stay with Accenture—for
                                     services we can bring. Through our         me, our commitment to corporate
                                     global corporate citizenship initiative,   citizenship is pretty close to number
                                     Skills to Succeed, employees can           one.”
                                     volunteer their time and skills to

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ESV Capitalisation
                                            BUSINESS CONTEXT                       organisations can experience when        volunteers to maximise net social
“IF ESV IS GOING TO TAKE                                                           bringing on more volunteers. The         value.18 The role of the broker cannot
                                            With an expected increase in
OFF, ALONG THE LINES                                                               research also outlines the concern       be over emphasised; a supply of
                                            Employer-Supported Volunteering
THAT THE GOVERNMENT                                                                that there are virtually no funds to     volunteers alone is insufficient,
                                            (ESV), the volunteering sector’s
                                                                                   help the voluntary sector develop        and volunteers must be effectively
IMAGINED WHEN IT                            ability to host and match volunteers
                                                                                   the capacity to absorb volunteers’       matched to the voluntary sector’s
FIRST ANNOUNCED THE                         to the right opportunities will
                                                                                   services in a meaningful way.15          needs.19 20
                                            be vital to achieving strong,
THREE-DAY POLICY, IT
                                            socially-positive outcomes.         (2) Volunteering brokerages:                The above challenges are particularly
IS IMPERATIVE THAT                                                              The National Council for Voluntary          important in regard to small- to
                                            The development of
EMPLOYERS AND THE                                                               Organisations (NCVO) found that the         medium- sized enterprises (SMEs),
                                            increased capacity to absorb
VOLUNTARY SECTOR ARE                        employer-supported volunteers
                                                                                demand for volunteering brokerages          who often do not have the
ON THE SAME PAGE.”14                                                            is outstripping supply.16 With more         resources to initiate and maintain
                                            can come from the following two
                                                                                than 50 percent of UK employers             an ESV programme.21 Since SMEs
                                            areas—both of which are already
                                                                                preferring to use brokers to identify       employ the majority of the UK
                                            facing capacity issues:
                                                                                volunteering opportunities and              workforce, these capacity issues are
                                            (1) Voluntary sector organisations: community partners, this supply             particularly important for them.22
                                            Research shows that many within     issue requires attention.17 Brokers
                                            the voluntary sector are not        must be capable of effectively
                                            employee-volunteer ready and        connecting the needs of voluntary
                                            emphasises the difficulty voluntary organisations, businesses and
Championing better work and working lives
CIPD Research report, November 2015

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BUSINESS IMPACT                            BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY                   supported the set up of an ESV        For brokers, this could be
                                                                                  brokerage.                            connecting them with new
The limited capacity to effectively        More than 80 percent of charities
                                                                                                                        partners and/or analysing which
absorb volunteers into the voluntary       have a genuine need for employee       Voluntary sector organisations
                                                                                                                        new businesses and voluntary
sector and brokerages presents two         volunteers, but 34 percent say         and brokerages may benefit from
                                                                                                                        organisations may be in need of
key challenges.                            they don’t have the capacity to        similar support. For voluntary
                                                                                                                        their services.
                                           manage more.24 Businesses have an      sector organisations, this could
1. If this limited capacity does
                                           opportunity to increase their social   involve volunteers supporting the
   not improve, it will become
                                           impact by building ESV capacity in     attainment of their social goals
   increasingly challenging to connect
                                           the voluntary sector—much of which     without detracting from their
   volunteers with timely and relevant
                                           could be supported by experienced      frontline service.
   opportunities. As a result, brokerage
                                           private sector volunteers.
   or in-house resourcing costs may
   increase, and valuable volunteer      Research has also shown that
   contributions may be lost.            voluntary sector brokers have a key
2. Difficulties may also arise if        role in improving the connections
   businesses are unable to provide      between public, private and
   volunteer services aligned to the     third-sector organisations by
   voluntary sector’s needs. Research    ensuring that skills and resources
   has shown that voluntary sector       are effectively targeted toward a
   organisations can feel pressure       diverse range of groups.25 With this
   to host, manage and provide           in mind, ESV should also support
   opportunities requested by            the development of voluntary sector
   businesses even if the volunteer      brokerage services. For example,
   services do not fit with their needs. businesses could volunteer to share
   This can lead the voluntary sector to their expertise and skills to improve,
   redirect core resources away from     expand, or build upon ESV brokerage
   frontline activities, resulting in a  services. The Benefacto case study
   diminished positive social impact.23 is an example of how Accenture
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BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS

Businesses setting up new ESV programmes                                   Businesses with established ESV programmes looking to maximise impact

• When partnering to source           b) Voluntary sector brokerage:    • Focus part of your volunteering
  volunteer opportunities, honour     build a brokerage partnership       offering on capacity-building
  a shared goal to find voluntary     where you understand the services   for the voluntary sector and/or
  opportunities that enable, rather   and volunteering opportunities      voluntary sector brokerages to
  than burden the voluntary sector.   that the broker provides, and the   help them expand their capacity.
• Choose one or more of the           broker understands the skill set  • Organise networking events and
  following approaches to source      and culture of your employees.      discussion forums for business,
  volunteering opportunities.         c) Hybrid of in-house and           voluntary sector organisations
  a) In-house: assess the voluntary   voluntary sector brokerage:         and brokers to discuss how best
  sector organisation with whom       see a) and b).                      to work together to maximise net
  you wish to partner against         d) Employee-driven: Create          social impact (e.g., around specific
  whether they have a shared set      internal policies, guiding          social goals).
  of values and objectives your       frameworks and tracking
  employee(s) can support; a          mechanisms to enable employees
  skills gap that your organisation   to work within their own networks
  can fulfil; a support framework     to create volunteer opportunities.
  for your volunteers well; and a
  feedback and evaluation process
  that can evidence the impact your
  volunteers make.26

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CASE STUDY:
Benefacto

In 2012, Accenture supported an         Benefacto is an active champion
employee in founding Benefacto, a       in promoting a shift toward more
voluntary sector brokerage set up       meaningful employee volunteering
to better connect businesses with       through their thought leadership,
the voluntary sector, particularly      industry networks, advocacy and
small charities that do not have        events. Benefacto is continuing
access, or capacity, to manage          to grow and recently celebrated
ESV programmes. The social              surpassing 1,500 volunteers who
enterprise engages employee             collectively donated more than
volunteers through a digital platform   2,660 days to voluntary work
and a mix of online and offline         since 2012. The Prime Minister
communications. The organisation        recognised Benefacto with a Big
also helps businesses and the           Society Award in 2015.27
voluntary sector work together to
ensure ESV aligns with the needs of
smaller charities—maximising their
net social impact.

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The rise of micro-volunteering
                                       DEFINITION                                 the UN declared micro-volunteering          BUSINESS IMPACT
“ON THE BASIS OF OUR                                                              a fast-growing trend in the global
                                       Micro-volunteering can be defined                                                      Those who do not incorporate
RESEARCH WE WOULD                                                                 volunteering arena32 and the UK
                                       as easy and on-demand actions                                                          micro-volunteering into their ESV
SEE THE FUTURE FOR                                                                government’s White Paper on Giving
                                       that benefit a worthy cause, often                                                     programmes may miss an important
                                                                                  also highlighted the growth of micro-
MICRO-VOLUNTEERING                     completed via a connected device                                                       opportunity to scale the reach and
                                                                                  volunteering.33 More recently, in 2013,
AS POTENTIALLY ONE                     in short, discrete periods of time.28 29                                               impact of their ESV programmes.
                                                                                  the Institute for Volunteering Research
                                       An example could be contributing to                                                    As more and more companies
OF EXPANSION AND                                                                  found that micro-volunteering is
                                       Wikipedia content.                                                                     incorporate micro-volunteering into
ONE WITH EXCITING                                                                 continuing to develop with technology
                                                                                                                              their ESV programmes, the companies
POSSIBILITIES. 30”                                                                as the key driver.34
                                       BUSINESS CONTEXT                                                                       who lag behind may ultimately
                                                                                  There is a huge range of micro              experience difficulty in differentiating
                                       As the world grows ever more digital,
                                                                                  volunteering opportunities that are         themselves against their competitors
                                       many micro-volunteering
                                                                                  now widely recognised, such as:             in this space.
                                       opportunities can be completed
                                                                                  crowdfunding, software development,
                                       through the use of technology,
                                                                                  questionnaire completion and case
                                       creating online volunteering
                                                                                  study development.35 36 The Institute
                                       opportunities. This has been a
                                                                                  for Volunteering Research found
                                       mainstream phenomenon since
                                                                                  that 78 percent of those involved in
                                       2000 when the United Nations (UN)
Institute for Volunteering Research,                                              micro-volunteering were between
                                       launched the Online Volunteering
November 2013                                                                     16-34 years old,37 making this
                                       Service which connects volunteers
                                                                                  particularly important for attracting
                                       with organisations around the
                                                                                  and retaining millennials (1980-2000).
                                       globe.31 Online micro-volunteering
                                                                                  See the case study on Missing Maps
                                       built upon this platform and eleven
                                                                                  for an example.
                                       years later,
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BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY                    In addition to increasing participation,     and archive cultural work to              educate about and tackle hunger.
                                        early studies and examples,                  encourage the creation and                Volunteers answer multiple choice
Micro-volunteering has the potential
                                        such as the following, highlight             distribution of eBooks with the           vocabulary questions; for every
to drastically increase the number of
                                        micro-volunteering’s potential to            intention of creating social value.       correct answer, 10 grains of rice
employees participating in ESV.
                                        have a powerful social impact.               Micro-volunteers simply have              are donated through the World
It can do this:
                                                                                     to type up and proofread public           Food Programme to those in
                                        • The PhotoFoundation has
1. By breaking down the barriers                                                     domain texts page by page.                need. In 2014 alone, 2,146,335,746
                                          more than eight thousand
   to volunteering, for example,                                                                                               grains were donated.43
                                          images displayed online.40 The           • Free Rice, a hybrid of donation
   time, cost and knowledge. The
                                          PhotoFoundation found that                 and micro-volunteering, has
   2013-2014 National Council for
                                          charities need images on a daily           led to 98 billion grains of rice
   Voluntary Organisations’ (NCVO)
                                          basis, and therefore, they support         being donated to the hungry.
   survey found a lack of time was
                                          them by providing free access to           The online platform aims to both
   the number one impediment
                                          their photo database.41 The photos
   to continued volunteering. 38
                                          on their database are supplied by
   Micro-volunteering reduces the
                                          micro-volunteers who ‘snap and
   administration and travel time
                                          share’ their photos.
   associated with volunteering to
   a minimum.                           • Distributed Proofreaders have
                                          converted more than 50,000
2. By engaging those who do
                                          public domain books into eBooks
   not volunteer via traditional
                                          for future generations to read.
   methods (e.g., volunteering in
                                          Volunteers comprise 100 percent
   a food bank for the day)39 due
                                          of the organisation.42 Distributed
   to time constraints, perceived
                                          Proofreaders aim to digitise
   inconvenience, or personal choice.

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BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS

Businesses setting up new               Businesses with established
ESV programmes                          ESV programmes looking to
                                        maximise impact
• Consider integrating
  micro-volunteering into your          Collaborate cross sector to develop
  ESV programme; if relevant to         and initiate micro-volunteering
  the needs of your partners, set       initiatives that maximise social
  objectives to increase annual         impact by:
  participation rates through
                                        • Supporting and further developing
  micro-volunteering.
                                          current micro-volunteering
• Identify and partner with               opportunities, such as large-scale
  those who have experience               events and online initiatives.
  in micro-volunteering.
                                        • Establishing micro-volunteering
  — Partnering can help expand the        opportunities that allow multiple
  technology infrastructure and skill     partners to join in, particularly
  set available to you.                   those who are looking to
• Consider micro-volunteering             establish micro-volunteering in
  as a tool to retain and attract         their organisation.
  employees.

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CASE STUDY:
Missing Maps

The Missing Maps project maps vast • Accenture volunteers have been         • Developing training materials for ‘mapathon’ coordinated across over
unmapped areas of the world to          participating in Mapathons as a       new mappers for the Missing Maps 20 Accenture countries to map
reduce their vulnerability to           micro-volunteering activity over      website and events                countries affected by refugee crises
disasters, and enable better            the last few months. We started                                         around the world.
                                                                            Accenture volunteers are now
management of health issues.            our mapping journey by hosting a
                                                                            planning to participate in a global
Missing Maps is an open,                70-person mapping party for
collaborative initiative founded by     staff, and now have an
Médecins Sans Frontières, the British   established mapping community,
Red Cross, the American Red Cross       involved in:
and the Humanitarian
                                      • Hosting many mapping parties in
OpenStreetMap Team. Volunteers
                                        multiple countries (some with as
simply have to use an intuitive
                                        many as 900 people)
online tool to trace buildings, roads
and points of interest from satellite • Creating and sharing processes to
imagery across as yet unmapped          implement mapping with other
areas.                                  employers

                                                                                                                               EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 17
FOREWORD INTRODUCTION         FINDINGS    TREND 1       TREND 2   TREND 3      TREND 4        TREND 5

The digital skills gap
                                               BUSINESS CONTEXT                       The digital skills gap heavily                  BUSINESS IMPACT
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,                                                                impacts the voluntary sector.
                                               The world has become digitised with                                                    The direct business impact of the
THERE IS THE DIGITAL                                                                  An Accenture- Lloyds Banking Group
                                               digital skills in widespread demand.                                                   digital skills gap is a severe talent
SKILLS GAP.” 44                                                                       collaboration- the Lloyds Bank UK
                                               The lack of these skills impacts                                                       supply challenge. For the UK
                                                                                      Business Digital Index found that
                                               virtually every aspect of the UK                                                       economy and those functioning
                                                                                      although overall digital maturity has
                                               economy, regardless of sector or                                                       within it, the result will be a loss of
                                                                                      increased from 2014 to 2015, charities
                                               industry. The words of the European                                                    competitiveness. Put simply, “When
                                                                                      remain digital laggards by a distance.
                                               Commission’s Vice President for the                                                    job vacancies go unfilled, business
                                                                                      Further still, an increased number of
                                               Digital Single Market could be no                                                      growth is hampered.”47
                                                                                      charities reported a lack of digital skills
                                               more explicit. By 2017, lost economic
                                                                                      in 2015 (at 58 percent) as compared
                                               output brought about by digital job
                                                                                      to 2014 (at 55 percent), and a growing
                                               vacancies is expected to be between
                                                                                      number neither understand nor
                                               £1.6 and £2.4 billion a year (2012
Andrus Ansip, Vice President for the Digital                                          recognise the value of digital skills
Single Market European Commission              GVA) in the UK alone.45 Tech UK’s July
                                                                                      to their organisation.46 The Business
                                               2015 White Paper quotes the same
                                                                                      Digital Index also shows a correlation
                                               estimate and also cites their joint
                                                                                      between more digitally mature
                                               2014 survey with Tech Partnership
                                                                                      organisations and economic success.
                                               which found that 93 percent of
                                               technology firms believe the digital    2015
                                               skills gap has a direct negative                            58%
                                               impact on their businesses.             2014
                                                                                                           55%

                                                                                                                                                   EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 18
FOREWORD INTRODUCTION   FINDINGS   TREND 1   TREND 2   TREND 3    TREND 4        TREND 5

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY                     The combined effect of increasing
                                         the number of people with digital
Businesses have the opportunity
                                         skills and deepening digital skills
to help the voluntary sector tackle
                                         of those volunteering addresses
the digital skills gap through
                                         the talent supply dilemma on two
Employer-Supported Volunteering
                                         fronts. Furthermore, teaching digital
(ESV). Participants not only
                                         skills is a high impact/high leverage
contribute to those they educate,
                                         activity; it only takes one volunteer
but also grow their own digital skill
                                         to improve the digital skills of a large
set. Also, many of their employees
                                         group. The business case, along with
already have the skills required to
                                         the extensive social benefits, such
help close the digital skills gap.
                                         as improving greater well-being, for
The technology sector in particular      contributing to the improvement of
can play a leading role in addressing    business relevant digital skills, is clear.
the digital skills gap given the range
of digital capabilities to which they
have access.

                                                                                                                                  EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 19
FOREWORD INTRODUCTION     FINDINGS   TREND 1       TREND 2   TREND 3    TREND 4        TREND 5

BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS

Businesses setting up new                   Businesses with established
ESV programmes                              ESV programmes looking to
                                            maximise impact
• Assess the digital needs of
  your voluntary partners, and if           • Drive behaviour change                   b) Digital also presents an
  appropriate, consider making                toward learning digital skills           opportunity for the charity
  digital skills a key focus in your          through volunteering.                    sector to benefit from advanced
  ESV programme.                               a) According to the Government          approaches to fundraising, raising
                                               Digital Service, the greatest           awareness as well as managing
   a) Embedding digital skills as part
                                               gap in digital provision is in          data on their beneficiaries more
   of your ESV programme is not a
                                               promoting awareness and                 effectively.
   ‘one-off’ exercise. Digital skills are
   constantly evolving, and therefore,         motivation to learn digital skills.49
   require continued attention to              With this in mind, create training
   develop your programme and                  programmes; communicate the
   skills.48                                   benefits of becoming digitally
                                               skilled; and encourage volunteers,
• Partner with businesses and
                                               particularly those from the
  voluntary sector organisations
                                               technology sector, to convey the
  who have knowledge of
                                               importance of digital, share their
  delivering digital skills training
                                               experiences and help motivate
  and a dedicated mission to help
                                               young people to become
  close the digital skills gap.
                                               producers of technology versus
                                               simply consumers of it.

                                                                                                                                         EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 20
FOREWORD INTRODUCTION   FINDINGS   TREND 1   TREND 2   TREND 3    TREND 4        TREND 5

CASE STUDY:
Go Digital

Accenture created Go Digital,
a suite of digital skills training
tools, to help address the need in
the voluntary sector and among
small- to medium- sized enterprises
for digital capabilities and to drive
employment and entrepreneurship
outcomes for young people and
others across the UK. Go Digital
enables Accenture employees to
volunteer to teach key digital skills
to both young people and voluntary
sector organisations. Volunteers
can also buddy up to deliver
training and enhance their own
skills by learning from each other.

                                                                                                  EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 21
FOREWORD INTRODUCTION    FINDINGS    TREND 1       TREND 2   TREND 3     TREND 4        TREND 5

The Internet of Me
                                                       DEFINITION                                  BUSINESS CONTEXT
“AS EVERYDAY OBJECTS ARE GOING ONLINE, SO TOO ARE
                                                       ‘Internet of Me’ describes the              The consumer world is currently
EXPERIENCES—CREATING AN ABUNDANCE OF DIGITAL
                                                       recent phenomenon of technology             going through ground-breaking
CHANNELS THAT REACH DEEP INTO EVERY ASPECT OF          becoming ever more personalised.            changes to the way in which
INDIVIDUALS’ LIVES. FORWARD-THINKING BUSINESSES ARE    A recent example of this is the Fitbit      individuals interact and experience
CHANGING THE WAYS THEY BUILD NEW APPLICATIONS,         Surge.50 The Surge is a watch that          products and services. These exciting
                                                       can track an individual’s distance,         technologies are as relevant to
PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES. TO GAIN CONTROL OVER
                                                       pace and route travelled, as well as        volunteering as any other part of the
THESE POINTS OF ACCESS, THEY ARE CREATING HIGHLY-      calculate calories burned, monitor          workplace, and the impact of these
PERSONALISED EXPERIENCES THAT ENGAGE AND               sleep, measure heart rate and               changes will increase as the ‘Internet
EXHILARATE CONSUMERS—WITHOUT BREACHING THE             connect wirelessly to other devices,        of Me’ develops.
CUSTOMER’S TRUST. THE COMPANIES THAT SUCCEED IN        among other things. Using this data,
                                                       the Surge can provide personalised
THIS NEW ‘INTERNET OF ME’ WILL BECOME THE NEXT
                                                       advice to the user, such as a diet plan
GENERATION OF HOUSEHOLD NAMES.” 51                     or exercise regime.

                                                                                                               EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 22
FOREWORD INTRODUCTION     FINDINGS   TREND 1     TREND 2   TREND 3    TREND 4        TREND 5

BUSINESS IMPACT                          BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY                 d) Provide details about employee
                                                                                 volunteers’ preferences to enable
As employees’ lives, particularly        Harnessing the ‘Internet of Me’ to
                                                                                 the voluntary sector to match
millennials, become increasingly         provide an enhanced, personalised
                                                                                 opportunities with skills an
connected and personalised, they will    volunteering experience could
                                                                                 individual and organisation
expect their workplace, and therefore,   greatly increase the number of
                                                                                 can offer.
Employer-Supported Volunteering          employees volunteering.
(ESV) experience to match this.52                                                Technology also presents an
                                         Offering employees a volunteering
                                                                                 important opportunity for
                                         app could bring a highly-personalised
                                                                                 employers: obtaining previously
                                         and measured experience to ESV. For
                                                                                 unknown ESV data to enhance their
                                         example, an app could:
                                                                                 programmes to maximise uptake
                                         a) Track an employee’s volunteering     and social impact. A personalised
                                            hours and social impact.             volunteering app could help
                                                                                 employers reduce the cost of data
                                         b) Highlight opportunities in areas
                                                                                 collection and management and
                                            of interest, filtered by time, type,
                                                                                 provide the foundation for new
                                            location and even weather.
                                                                                 infrastructure to collect data on
                                         c) Allow employees to define            volunteering habits, preferences
                                            settings as to when they prefer      and engagement.
                                            to volunteer based on work and
                                            personal schedules, and obtain
                                            alerts accordingly.

                                                                                                                                  EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 23
FOREWORD INTRODUCTION   FINDINGS   TREND 1   TREND 2   TREND 3    TREND 4        TREND 5

BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS

Due to the complex and developing       • Research across the volunteering
nature of the ‘Internet of Me,’ these     industry to understand what
recommendations target those              others are doing to personalise
with established EVS programmes           experiences and which
and the technology sector is well         technologies are enabling this.
positioned to lead the way in this      • Where possible, partner with
space by developing solutions for         organisations at the forefront
personalised volunteering.                of new technologies to support
                                          you with the development of a
Businesses with established               personalised ESV solution.
ESV programmes looking
                                        • Engage your voluntary sector
to maximise impact
                                          partners to shift toward
• Prepare to shift toward a world         technology-supported,
  where each employee has a               personalised volunteering
  unique view of the organisation’s       and ensure they can input
  volunteering offering.                  the necessary volunteering
• Analyse technologies your               opportunity information.
  employees currently use/intend to     • Plan what security measures will
  use to establish the best platform      be needed with the introduction of
  for volunteering opportunities to       new technology to maintain data
  be advertised and managed.              privacy, security and anonymity,
                                          and most importantly, the trust
                                          of employees so they continue to
                                          share personal data 53 and help to
                                          inform future ESV programmes.
                                                                                                                             EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 24
FOREWORD INTRODUCTION       FINDINGS   TREND 1    TREND 2   TREND 3     TREND 4        TREND 5

CASE STUDY:
Team London

As this is a trend which is still in its   Opportunities are flexible, easy        The Team London speed volunteering     To find out more about speed
infancy, few solutions are present         to join and enables volunteers to       app can be downloaded from the         volunteering, visit
in the ESV space. That said, Team          search for opportunities based on       iTunes app store by searching for      https://speedvolunteer.london.gov.uk/.
London, the Mayor of London’s              the skills that they want to develop.   ‘Team London’. The app will be
volunteering programme, launched           There are over 1,700 charities that     available on Android soon.
an exciting free app earlier this          have advertised roles on the Team
year. It is the first of its kind, to      London website and app, and 70,000
match volunteers with local speed          opportunities advertised at any
volunteering opportunities. Their          one time. Opportunities include
mission is to mobilise an army             being an enterprise adviser, a speed
of volunteers across the capital.          networker, run to do good or helping
Designed to enable busy people to          charities to better understand
commit a small amount of time to           and communicate their impact.
suit their schedules, the app has
been created in response to research
that found 59 per cent of people
are deterred from volunteering
because of lack of time due to work
commitments.

                                                                                                                                      EMPLOYER SUPPORTED VOLUNTEERING | 25
CONTACT THE AUTHORS            ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS:              ABOUT ACCENTURE                          ABOUT CORPORATE
Camilla Drejer                 Joanne Cash                           Accenture is a leading global            CITIZENSHIP
Director - Accenture UKI       Consultant - Accenture Strategy       professional services company,           At Accenture, we believe that one of
Corporate Citizenship          Joanne.E.Cash@accenture.com           providing a broad range of services      the most important things we can
Camilla.Drejer@accenture.com                                         and solutions in strategy, consulting,   do as a business is engage in the
                               Jacques Sheehan
                                                                     digital, technology and operations.      challenges of the communities in
Mohini Rao                     Analyst - Accenture Strategy
                                                                     Combining unmatched experience           which we live and work. Our focus
Manager – Accenture UKI        Jacques.Sheehan@accenture.com
                                                                     and specialized skills across more       isn’t limited to our work within
Corporate Citizenship
                               Created in partnership with           than 40 industries and all business      communities or programmes that
Mohini.Rao@accenture.com
                               Benefacto, East London Business       functions—underpinned by the             naturally fit within a corporate
                               Alliance (ELBA) and The Prince’s      world’s largest delivery network—        citizenship agenda. We see our
                               Trust.                                Accenture works at the intersection      broader remit as being at the heart of
                                                                     of business and technology to help       the UK growth agenda—supporting
                               JOIN THE CONVERSATION                 clients improve their performance        the creation of jobs, improving skills
                               #thinkvolunteering                    and create sustainable value for their   and employability, and contributing
                                                                     stakeholders. With approximately         to the economic success of the UK
                               NOTES                                 373,000 people serving clients in        and Ireland.
                               Access the full list of notes here.   more than 120 countries, Accenture
                                                                     drives innovation to improve the way
                                                                     the world works and lives. Visit us at
                                                                     www.accenture.com.

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