The COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world in a way where social distancing and home isolation became the new normal. In-person gatherings were forbidden, and everything slowly transitioned to the virtual space. For the non-profit world this meant that the corporate volunteer programme came to a screeching halt. Apart from physical distancing that has hampered volunteering opportunities, alleged declining CSR budgets have compelled companies to explore the world of virtual volunteering. This transition has been touted as what is now being called, e-CSR.
A virtual volunteering program that your company sets up, will allow your employees to continue to help out and serve with causes they so deeply care about, even in this post COVID era that we have all embarked upon.
Here are five reasons your company should invest in virtual volunteering:
1. Skilled Expertise is the need of the hour: Financial resources play an important role in ensuring the smooth functioning of NGOs. These often however are the only resources available to them for running programs and employing people which leaves a variety of gaps in service that the people do not have the capacity to fill. In a new normal it is even more imperative for NGOs to harness technology to be able to deliver their projects on-ground. A virtual volunteer in this instance can use their skill expertise and enable the organization to bridge the gap, all with the help of the internet and a computer. Deloitte India’s CSR activities saw its volunteering participation rise by a whopping 400%, during the lockdown. They logged in over 500 hours in designing software solutions and providing online consultations to their associated NGOs.
2. Virtual volunteering can bring in a sense of purpose: In a world where hybrid mode of working has become the norm, the feeling of camaraderie that comes from working in an office has almost gone missing. Since venturing out seems more like an added burden, virtual volunteering can be a good avenue to allow your employee to get their mind off their regular 9-5 job and create an impact in society, all while doing work at their own pace. It will allow the employee to feel connected to the outside world in a positive way.
3. Virtual Volunteering has scalable impact: The mere transition from a simple volunteering program to including the element of virtuality to the mix will allow the company’s CSR objectives to be highly scalable. This will in-turn make a significant on-ground impact. A virtual volunteering program will make it possible to recruit many more volunteers within the company with next to negligible complications. The prospect of all employees in the company working together to support a single cause and witnessing real ground zero impact, will be a testimony for all to see. This large- scale participation is nearly impossible to manage or officiate in other forms of volunteering, an aspect that can be taken advantage of. Like IBM’s CSR Head Manoj Balachandran in a recent interview mentioned, “IBM has seen an increase of over 60% additional IBMers volunteering their time and efforts to education and skilling initiatives.”
4. Virtual Volunteering is measurable: The success of virtual volunteering programs can be easily and promptly tracked. This not only encourages the employee to volunteer more hours but allows them to achieve loftier goals, all these, with the resources that are readily available to them. The fact that measurable data is available is an added bonus.
5. Volunteering helps inculcate life skills: It is no denying that regular volunteering took employees out of their regular work groups and team structures and allowed them to experience a whole different world. The same stands true for virtual volunteering. Virtual volunteering pulls the employee out of their usual team and puts them in a setting that challenges them to think ‘out-of-the-box’, look for inputs and guidance and unite behind a shared purpose. All this is done from the confines of one’s sacred space. It inculcates important life skills that may be hard to otherwise develop in a structured work setting. These skills can range from empathy and problem solving to introducing innovative ways of thinking and harnessing technology. A fine example of these new life skills can be seen in the way employees of Freshworks, an Indian software company, rose to the occasion when they realized that access to healthcare during the pandemic was sparse in the rural areas. They created a COVID Telemedicine Helpline that connected volunteer doctors to screen patients in the rural areas via phone for COVID symptoms. It was a group of volunteers from the organization who were motivated and worked outside their usual work hours, harnessed technology and made healthcare available to most. All this they did, while India was under strict lockdown, from the limit of their own houses.
Stepping into what we call the new normal seems daunting. It requires a change in the way we think and live daily lives. But, to avoid being a naysayer, it is safe to admit that COVID-19 has taught us skills we never thought we could develop. Whether this be accepting Work from Home as the new normal or just merely accepting the ‘online’ way of life. The logistical advantages this switch has seen are far too many to count. Having seen the benefits of virtual volunteering that India Inc. has witnessed in the recent past, it is safe to assume that virtual volunteering is here to stay as the future of service initiatives around the country and the world.
