Paid days to volunteer

No - no need (and not a good idea) to add it to contracts. I would keep all such initiatives as non-contractual and able to be varied in future, wherever possible.

Great initiative though!

Hi Michelle, it's a very popular initiative where I work, we offer 4 days, we do not make it contractual (and if it's new that might be better for you as well) - we do have guidelines as to what activities we would promote (preferably sharing your professional skills and helping organisations/activities related to what we do (publishing) so improving literacy skills etc) and also just as importantly what is not allowed (so political activity and similar). We have found it useful to set out expectations and get manager approval for any volunteering.

Hi Helen, added the guidelines to the handbook e.g whats acceptable (no political activity etc) and also how you apply for it and what we need tied in with a few selling points / benefits e.g. learning and development and supporting local community etc so its an informative engaging piece rather than full of rules and cant do's. thank you for your advice, super appreciate it.

Have a great day!

Hi Nina

Super appreciate you response, im a stand alone HR so dont really have a team to bounce off and as we are all so aware, people will be people which is what makes our job so unique and amazing but also sometimes we just need to sanity check and your post was really helpful, thank you.

Have a great day!

I completely agree - particularly for standalone HR professionals, I think this community is such a fantastic resource!

Morning Michelle,
Just a quick one to say thank you to your organisation for supporting volunteering. My remit is across HR and volunteering for my organisation (a Cathedral) and next year I am going to be doing some work to see how we can attract people from local employers to consider us for their volunteering days. It's great to hear of other organisations supporting with time off.

While we're on the topic... keen to hear of any HR depts who encourage their employees to support small voluntary / community orgs with HR/people matters?

Also just signposting some previous discussions from last year...

 Volunteer Policy 

 Volunteering Policy 

 Paid Volunteer days - Benchmarking information?? 

(Jacqueline , Keith )

Hi Steve
Thank you for the signposting, very much appreciated. love this community already! (professional love of course).
Michelle