Employee Volunteerism—Conceptual Study and the Current Situation

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze employee volunteerism. This issue had not been studied on a broader international level earlier. This research firstly discovers altruism and volunteerism values in the economy. Then, based on the third-party model, observes each part, where participants are the (1) volunteer (employee) (2) company (and its CSR activity) and (3) an external organization, which manages this type of formal volunteerism. Each participant was analyzed through comprehensive analysis using descriptive and inference statistics and classification methods on complex, extensive secondary databases. Altogether, more than 10,000 respondents’ answers are examined from two worldwide surveys, and further ten international statistical indicators and indices are explored. These methods result in volunteer characteristics on a personal level, afterwards in country classification, which provides a cultural comparison of the employee volunteerism. Our findings prove that demographical differences do not, but company-level actions influence the intensity of formal volunteerism. Moreover, three main clusters (formed from 43 countries) show different values. This diversity might partly be caused by measurement fragmentations and lack of internationally accepted definitions and theories. This paper aims to provide a broader overview of the topic, which might be a useful starting point for the forthcoming aggregated conceptualization. Employee volunteers’ behavior arises from the personal value of volunteerism. However, the attendance and intensity of voluntary activity are primarily influenced by the environment (e.g., life period, living and working situation). Employee volunteerism programs are an important and essential part of CSR at the company level, and strongly frames this activity, where employee volunteerism could associate each participant’s interests and improve their values. However, the practices may differ in each country and in each sector. The current pandemic rewrote the traditional volunteerism model and our projection. The last chapter provides a preliminary study about how employee volunteerism could work in this extraordinary, COVID-19 situation.

The role of ESG performance during times of COVID-19 pandemic

“…Notably, Ramelli and Wagner 27 and Albuquerque et al 31 observed varying stock price trends throughout the pandemic. Economic repercussions of COVID-19 extend to significant social implications, such as job disruptions, widespread unemployment, and reduced work hours in the labor market 32 .…”

Corporate Volunteering Impacts

“…CV raises concerns regarding the responsibilities and rights of the volunteers once the volunteering law and framework can be complex and not clear. Experts affirm that companies should acquire liability insurance to prevent those risks, recommending companies to develop guidelines with specific roles description and clearly organize recruitment, training, orientation, management and program evaluation (Bauer, 2017;Loosemore & Bridgeman, 2018, Derecskei & Nagy, 2020.…”

Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Crisis: Covid-19

“…22 Companies that have used CSR even before crises will experience fewer losses, be more resilient, and take a shorter time to recover from attacks, unlike those companies that did not have or had weak CSR activities. 23 Likewise, consumer sensitivity is greatest in times of crisis, and their perception of a company that carried out CSR activities during the crisis will positively affect their product consumption, punishing those who do not react in this way. 24 on CSR for marketing purposes, the initial positive customer perception of that company changes.…”