MIT Sloan Management Review Article on How Volunteerism Enhances Workplace Skills

Attract and retain top talent, boost morale, build brand awareness, give back to the community — these are among the most common reasons companies support employee volunteering, often through flexible scheduling or paid time off.1 But a new rationale is emerging: If managed appropriately, volunteer work for a charitable cause can help employees develop valuable capabilities that can be put to use at work.

Skills-based volunteering is a rapidly growing channel through which businesses engage in corporate citizenship.2 Traditional volunteer activities (serving people at a soup kitchen, for instance, or planting trees) tend to leverage general competencies. Skills-based volunteering, on the other hand, involves applying job-related expertise in specialized areas such as marketing, project management, and IT and often enables participants to acquire new skills along the way.

About the Author

Amanda Shantz is an associate professor of human resource management and organizational behavior at Trinity College Dublin’s Trinity Business School.

Kiera Dempsey-Brench is a Ph.D. candidate at Trinity Business School.

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