The Latest Office Perk: Getting Paid to Volunteer; More Companies Subsidize Donations of Time and Talent; Bait for Millennial Generation

Today, a growing number of companies are lending out skilled employees to nonprofits and struggling small businesses around the world to provide accounting, marketing and other professional services. [...] say employers, first-rate corporate volunteer programs help attract and retain so-called millennials -- workers born after 1980 -- who are needed to help fill vacancies expected to be created by the impending retirement wave of the baby-boomer generation.

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Wall Street Journal
Sarah E. Needleman
Apr 29, 2008. pg. D.1

Last fall, Jenny Balaze left her post in Ernst & Young LLC's Washington office to spend 12 weeks in Buenos Aires as a volunteer, providing free accounting services to a small publishing firm. It was among "the best three months of my life," says the 27-year-old business advisory services manager.

The Big Four accounting firm covered her transportation, food and hotel expenses. Even better, she remained on the company payroll the entire time she was gone, and her job was waiting for her when she got back.

Corporate volunteerism often used to mean cleaning up public parks or building homes for the needy. Today, a growing number of companies are lending out skilled employees to nonprofits and struggling small businesses around the world to provide accounting, marketing and other professional services. Under these programs, assignments tend to tap into participants' skills and career goals.

To be sure, law firms of all sizes have a long tradition of providing pro bono work to nonprofits and individuals. But in recent years, more employers have begun offering similar arrangements for employees to do volunteer work on company time -- and the company dime -- even if it means employees miss weeks or months of work.

Why go to all the trouble? For one, employees often gain a broader perspective on business when they do their jobs in different settings -- knowledge they can bring back to the organization. And, say employers, first-rate corporate volunteer programs help attract and retain so-called millennials -- workers born after 1980 -- who are needed to help fill vacancies expected to be created by the impending retirement wave of the baby-boomer generation.

For many young job hunters, a prominent employee-volunteerism program is a strong selling point. A 2006 survey of 1,800 13-to-25- year-olds found that 79% want to work for a company that cares about how it affects or contributes to society. Sixty-four percent said their employer's social and environmental activities inspire loyalty, according to Cone Inc., a Boston-based brand strategy and communications agency, which conducted the survey.

"Millennials are saying, 'I don't want to park my values at the door,'" explains Carol Cone, chairman and founder of the firm. "They're asking companies: 'What's your purpose? What do you stand for? How are you giving back?'"

Companies are increasingly answering by creating volunteer programs and then touting them on their corporate Web sites and Facebook pages, as well as in meetings with job candidates.

Sarah Antonette, 28, says she opted to join PNC Financial Services Group Inc. last year instead of two other companies that offered her jobs partly because of its volunteerism initiative. "Some of the other companies I interviewed with do a one-off event or write a check, but PNC had an entire program," says the 2006 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh's Katz School of Business. She learned about it during her job interview.

PNC's volunteerism program includes partnerships with roughly 200 nonprofits nationwide. Employees can choose between skills-based assignments and projects unrelated to their jobs, says Kathy D'Appolonia, senior vice president for recruiting and employee inclusion at PNC.

Corporate recruiters say company philanthropy -- and building a reputation for direct involvement -- is a hot topic at campus job fairs. Laysha Ward, vice president of community relations at retailer Target Corp., says recruiters from all regions are hearing younger job candidates bring up the company's "commitment to the community as one of the No. 1 reasons they want to come work for us."

Ernst & Young's overseas volunteer initiative, which the firm launched in 2006, is "a big attractor on campus," says Deborah Holmes, a director of corporate responsibility. The fact that Ernst & Young limits participation to top performers or employees who have been with the company more than two years doesn't seem to be a deterrent, Ms. Holmes says. "It's something many new hires look forward to," she says. Other corporate volunteer programs have similar requirements.

For millennials and experienced workers, skills-based volunteerism is also a way to enhance their careers, says Greg Hills, director at FSG Social Impact Advisors, a nonprofit consulting and research firm in Boston. "Employees in general feel that they're delivering more value per hour volunteered when they're able to bring to bear their own workplace skills in addressing a social problem," he explains.

Ernst & Young's Ms. Balaze says her overseas assignment demanded more autonomy than any she had previously handled back in her office. "Being the only person working with that client, I was able to do a whole project from start to finish," she says. "Now the partners in my group are willing to let me work more independently because they know I've taken a project all the way through." Ernst & Young worked with Endeavor, a New York-based nonprofit group, in identifying small businesses in need of professional support in developing countries.

Skills-based volunteerism differs from the way many companies have traditionally supported nonprofits. Until recently, for example, United Parcel Service Inc. mainly donated money to nonprofits or arranged for employees to do volunteer work such as distributing food to homeless shelters, says Lisa Hamilton, president of UPS's corporate foundation. Now the delivery company also provides the expertise of its employees, she says.

A case in point: In 2005, Jimmy Guadalupe, a logistics supervisor for the delivery company, began providing supply-chain services to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for its annual Race for the Cure event. "I do the exact same things I do for UPS," says Mr. Guadalupe, 28, such as scheduling deliveries and assigning drivers to routes. He spends about 20 hours a month doing volunteer work, about half that on company time.

Employers are also seeing advantages to matching workers with volunteer assignments. "You develop their talent better," says Robert Mallett, a senior vice president at Pfizer Inc. and president of the pharmaceutical giant's corporate foundation. "They come back with more substantial leadership skills and a better strategic sense of how to navigate in different types of environments."

Employees say corporate volunteerism presents opportunities to network with colleagues from different departments, including senior leaders. For example, Amber Skorczewski, an associate marketing analyst at Target, led a volunteer effort last month involving 350 employees at the company's headquarters in Minneapolis. The group spent two days assembling safety kits for the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, among others.

As a result, Ms. Skorczewski, 26, got to work with the company's vice president of property development operations, who oversaw the event, and several participants she may not have spent time with otherwise, she says.

Overseas assignments, notes Pfizer's Mr. Mallett, are particularly effective for exposing workers to new ways of doing business. Pfizer expanded its volunteer initiative overseas in 2003, and since then, more than 155 employees have lent their expertise to nonprofits and government agencies in developing countries.

Among them was 30-year-old Shari Adler, a human-resources manager at Pfizer, who last year spent six months helping employees of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health implement workplace programs. She says it made her more confident in her ability to deal with many types of people -- critical to her work at a global company -- and gave her a chance to hone her leadership skills.

"It opens your eyes to things and teaches you how to communicate with people of all different backgrounds," Ms. Adler says.