Just another Talkshop? - Why a Forum on Corporate Volunteerism

Despite a number of successful advocacy efforts promoting the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Trinidad and Tobago, the CSR aspect of corporate volunteerism (CV) remains still in its infancy. In a recent country-wide survey on workplace volunteerism conducted by the United Nations Volunteers Program (UNV), only 24% of all companies interviewed did indicate the existence of an internal volunteer program for staff and it seems that outside the country’s energy sector with its strong presence of multinational corporations the use of employee volunteers in support of internal and external CSR initiatives is not seen as relevant for bottom line, business strategy and human resource management.

It also appears that two major factors are responsible for the lack of corporate buy-in for workplace volunteerism on the part of many companies in Trinidad and Tobago – limited capacity to devise formal volunteer programs and management systems in the case of SMEs as well as an only rudimentary understanding of the business benefits of volunteer-supported social engagement. Among the benefits of corporate volunteerism is the building of corporate reputation and the solidification of an organizational image of care, social responsibility and good corporate citizenship. Furthermore, voluntary staff involvement in projects that contribute to the material and emotional wellbeing of others generates personal satisfaction, a sense of purpose and an ethos of corporate loyalty.

In addition to the lack of capacity and lack of knowledge, many companies find it difficult to identify partner organizations in civil society whose projects their employees could support through voluntary initiative. Businesses may be prepared to have their workforce volunteer in social and environmental projects but remain unsure as to which NGOs are active in fence-line communities and which initiatives need volunteer support. In other words, the necessary coordination of demand for and supply of corporate volunteers remains fragmented with volunteer skills underutilized.

Before this backdrop of only embryonic structures of the voluntary dimension of CSR in Trinidad and Tobago and maximizing on UNV’s core expertise in Third Sector development, the UNV Country Office Team in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is seeking to address the abovementioned challenges, deficits and shortcomings through the organization of a one-day Forum on Corporate Volunteerism. This workshop-type event will serve as a platform for the national stakeholder community to exchange experiences and to highlight Best Practices of employee volunteer management.

Furthermore, while inviting key note speakers and presenters to talk on selected CV topics, the event will pursue a distinct ‘hands-on’ approach with participants being invited to actively devise a ‘model‘ corporate volunteerism programme in working groups and to present the results including recommendations for implementation to their fellow delegates. Finally, the event will see the launch of a Corporate Volunteerism Network (CVN) as an attempt to establish a CV resource facility and to match the supply of corporate volunteers with the demand for volunteer support by NGOs.