How to Measure the ROI of Employee Volunteering

A Guide for Businesses

Employee volunteering programs can bring tremendous value to companies, from boosting employee morale to enhancing brand reputation. However, to make these initiatives sustainable, it’s essential to measure their Return on Investment (ROI). Calculating the ROI of employee volunteering helps companies understand the tangible benefits, allowing them to optimize programs and communicate their impact more effectively. In this guide, we’ll explore practical ways to measure the ROI of employee volunteering programs.

Why Measure the ROI of Employee Volunteering?

Understanding the ROI of employee volunteering helps businesses identify the value created by these programs, both internally and externally. A study by Deloitte found that 88% of employees believe volunteering improves job satisfaction, which can enhance retention and reduce turnover costs. By measuring the ROI, companies can see how volunteering aligns with business goals, increases employee engagement, and contributes to positive community impact.

1. Define Clear Objectives for Your Volunteering Program

The Challenge: Measuring ROI can be challenging without clear objectives, as it’s difficult to quantify intangible outcomes.

The Solution: Start by defining specific goals for your volunteering program, such as improving employee satisfaction, enhancing community impact, or strengthening team collaboration. Clear objectives guide how you measure success, whether through employee feedback, project outcomes, or community testimonials.

For example, at Marpu Foundation, we focus on volunteering programs that aim to improve local education and sustainability, ensuring both measurable and meaningful impact.

Key takeaway: Setting clear objectives provides a foundation for assessing the effectiveness of employee volunteering.

2. Track Employee Engagement and Retention Rates

The Challenge: Employee engagement and retention are essential, yet often difficult, to quantify directly.

The Solution: Track engagement metrics before and after implementing a volunteering program. This can include monitoring turnover rates, conducting employee satisfaction surveys, and observing participation in other company activities. Companies often see a 15-20% increase in employee engagement when volunteering programs align with their values.

A decrease in turnover and higher participation rates in company initiatives indicate a successful volunteering program.

Key takeaway: Positive changes in engagement and retention reflect a strong ROI from employee volunteering.

3. Measure Skills Development and Team Cohesion

The Challenge: Employee volunteering often enhances skills and team collaboration, but these outcomes are harder to quantify.

The Solution: Gather feedback through surveys to measure how volunteering has impacted employees’ communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills. You can also track team cohesion by observing how well team members collaborate during and after volunteering activities. Skills development adds value to your organization by improving overall performance and efficiency.

For instance, companies like IBM track skill acquisition through volunteering by using pre- and post-activity assessments.

Key takeaway: Skills development is a critical component of ROI, adding professional growth to the impact of volunteering.

4. Calculate Financial Value of Volunteering Hours

The Challenge: Putting a monetary value on volunteer hours can be challenging but is necessary for ROI calculation.

The Solution: Use the average hourly wage of employees to calculate the financial value of time spent volunteering. This approach is widely accepted, as it reflects the resources the company invests in the program. For example, if 50 employees volunteer 10 hours, the total value would be 500 hours multiplied by their hourly wage. This provides a baseline for the financial investment in volunteering.

According to Independent Sector, the average value of volunteer time is around $29.95 per hour (U.S. rates). This figure can help companies in calculating the monetary value of volunteering time more effectively.

Key takeaway: Valuing volunteer hours helps measure direct costs and gives insight into the program’s financial contribution.

5. Evaluate Brand Reputation and Community Impact

The Challenge: Brand reputation and community impact are intangible benefits that are difficult to measure but vital to program success.

The Solution: Use social listening tools and surveys to assess how the volunteering program affects brand perception. Track media mentions, online reviews, and customer feedback to gauge community sentiment. Positive public perception can enhance customer loyalty and attract new talent. Additionally, measure community impact through feedback from the beneficiaries of your volunteering initiatives, which can be quantified as testimonials, partnership expansions, and project completions.

Companies like Deloitte actively track media mentions and client feedback to understand the impact of their volunteering initiatives on brand reputation.

Key takeaway: Improved brand reputation and community relationships enhance ROI, contributing to long-term organizational success.

6. Track Participation Rates and Program Growth

The Challenge: Participation rates alone may not fully capture ROI, but they offer insight into program reach and employee buy-in.

The Solution: Measure participation rates over time, noting any increase or decrease. Tracking volunteer hours, frequency of participation, and program growth demonstrates employee interest and the program’s relevance. Higher participation rates often correlate with better engagement and a sense of shared purpose among employees.

A growing participation rate, for example, shows that more employees find value in the program, which strengthens the case for maintaining or expanding it.

Key takeaway: Participation rates provide a clear metric for gauging program success and sustainability.

7. Assess Long-term Community and Business Benefits

The Challenge: Measuring long-term benefits of volunteering, such as social impact or operational efficiency, requires a comprehensive evaluation approach.

The Solution: Track the long-term benefits of your volunteering programs by measuring changes in community well-being and business outcomes. This could include improvements in educational outcomes, environmental sustainability, or business metrics like innovation and collaboration. Use annual reviews to document these achievements and link them back to the volunteering efforts, showcasing sustained impact.

For instance, Google has reported improved employee innovation and retention rates due to their volunteering programs, contributing to their long-term business success.

Key takeaway: Long-term tracking reinforces the overall ROI, capturing the extended impact of the program on both community and company.

Collaborate for Greater Impact

Measuring the ROI of employee volunteering goes beyond numbers; it’s about understanding the social, professional, and organizational value generated. By setting objectives, tracking employee engagement, and assessing long-term benefits, businesses can maximize the impact of their programs. Partnering with experienced organizations like Marpu Foundation can further enhance your employee volunteering efforts, offering guidance and resources to create meaningful impact.

To learn more, visit www.marpu.org.