How volunteering is a win-win for advisers

Advisers are known for their community spirit and putting their talents to work for others, but why is volunteering so important for so many people working in financial services?

In 2020/21, 30 per cent of respondents to the government's official Community Life Survey reported taking part in formal volunteering at least once in the last year.

That is approximately 14mn people in England - lower than in 2014, when the figure stood at 45 per cent - approximately 21mn people.

A further 33 per cent of respondents (approximately 15mn people in England) had taken part in informal volunteering at least once a month - the highest number since the government started recording voluntary work.

It is a great way for staff to engage and support charities.-Nadia Al Yafai, transition consultant

Giving talents and sharing strengths voluntarily with others in need can be key to experiencing inner wellbeing and contributing to the collective health of society.

People do it from a place of goodness and in return it encourages goodness - a truly virtuous circle.

Volunteering activities give staff the opportunity to show off other skills and shine in a new way, sometimes trying something completely new.  

Moreover, with the increase of hybrid working, and four-day weeks being explored, there is a chance that some/more people might be more able to contribute to society in new ways.

It’s therefore saddening that as societal pressures get harder for many people, especially as interest rates hit 5.25 per cent, and inflation remains stubbornly high at 7.9 per cent, often volunteering gets sidelined.

Understandably, in times of pressure, an intensified focus on work and earnings means goodwill initiatives like corporate volunteering are under threat of becoming squeezed out of the frame.

This can have a negative impact on wellbeing of staff, and on society, as people’s more open perspective and sense of freedom gets lessened.

However, there are some forward-thinking organisations and individuals from the financial sector who are making small sacrifices to experience the mutual wellbeing benefits of donating time and resources to help charities and their communities.

FTAdviser speaks to four experts about why volunteering has been a win-win.

1) Innovation and creativity

Nadia Al Yafai works as a social impact and just transition consultant and has spent more than 12 years at senior levels in financial services companies leading social impact and CSR programmes, most recently at a large insurer. 

She sees many benefits for companies who allow staff to donate time to volunteering.

Yafai says: “It is a great way for staff to engage and support charities, to give back, take time out to be inspired, think differently, be challenged, and get remotivated.

"Team opportunities have the added benefit of bringing the team together to make a difference. There’s a real sense of achievement and unity at the end.

"Most companies will do it for a mixture of reasons: because they recognise the value to staff and society, because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it is expected and adds to their social responsibility approach. 

Staff can’t really develop great products and initiatives for consumers if they don’t understand their lives.Al Yafai

"It's also good in terms of recruitment. In my time in CSR, graduates and interviewees asked about it a lot at interview. Social Impact was always one of the highest elements on their agenda."

She says it is great that companies shared their positive actions, but it was also right that they should be challenged to ensure these actions are authentic and meaningful. 

Al Yafai adds: "Staff can’t really develop great products and initiatives for consumers if they don’t understand their lives and volunteering can enable them to see society differently.

"The modern approach brings value to staff and business in terms of customer and consumer knowledge and societal understanding.”

She considers how a changing work environment towards hybrid or even a four-day working week could free people up to share their skills outside of the office. 

“It would be wonderful if, in the future, those who can could giving some of a potential fifth day off to loved ones, hobbies and to their communities. That may have a powerful impact on people’s connection to place and environment. 

“Companies are increasingly having to demonstrate an authentic role in society, as part of their social contract, and community engagement has changed from being ‘giving back’ to ‘being two-way based on skills-sharing and a sense of equality about being joint partners working together on a societal issue.”  

According to Al Yafai, the most powerful volunteering is a two-way partnership, where the business and charity get real value and joy out of it, but she has seen how volunteering helps with innovation and creativity.

She adds: "This is something I’ve seen more and more. Companies are often identifying ‘skills-based’ volunteering that taps into staff skills or into core areas of product and business.

"In turn, this helps their staff understand more about societal and customer needs and bring challenging and fresh new ideas back to the business.”

2) All-round benefits

Peter Hamilton is head of market engagement at Zurich and is well-versed in the company’s volunteering activities and programmes.

He says: "Our flagship volunteering programme, ‘Challenge’ is an annual team volunteer event. It brings together employee teams from Zurich offices across the country to complete a one-off project which benefits a local voluntary organisation or school.

"Every member of staff is given three days of paid volunteering, to use for whatever cause is close to them – it could be a big national charity or a small local one."

Hamilton also perceives great wellbeing benefits all round.

He believes employees can add real value to the charities we support by sharing business and life skills. Increasingly, potential employees are judging their next employer on more than simply pay and prospects, important as these are.

Hamilton says: "Many are looking for companies with a sense of purpose, who share their values. 

"We have a generation now that is passionate about sustainability, and who have high standards when it comes to ethics, inclusivity, wellbeing and transparency."

3) Expressing identity

Mark Jeyaraj is an engagement manager at financial consultancy Oliver Wyman. Jeyaraj studied at a Jesuit school in Australia where his formative ideology was in "being more, for others".

This is something he has carried into his professional life, which he feels has had huge benefits to his own wellbeing and the wellbeing of his organisation and the charities they have served as part of their programmes.

A member of the LGBTQ community, his pro bono and his voluntary endeavours have helped him express his identity and help others
who are often misunderstood find their voice.

As an Oliver Wyman employee Jeyaraj participates in volunteering days organised by he himself or others in the company.

One volunteering activity Jeyaraj took part in was to help a homeless shelter with gardening. “I used work volunteer allocated days and worked with nine colleagues.”

Asked how he felt about volunteering with colleagues and how this might have helped his wellness, he says: “To work with my colleagues was good for two reasons. It was a bonding experience getting to know some of my colleagues in a new way, working alongside them [as we potted plants].

There are benefits coming to the organisation helping, and the organisation being helped.Mark Jeyaraj, Oliver Wyman

"Also we also got to speak together with a few of the folk coming into the shelter and find out about them."

He admits that although the voluntary activity itself was reasonably straightforward and unchallenging, it opened his mind as he “wouldn’t usually speak to people who have become homeless”.

It also taught him to be positive and resilient when facing scepticism.

Jeyaraj says: "It’s possible to experience some scepticism when doing activities that happen over a short period of time because these may be judged as representative and therefore not impactful.

"However, there are benefits coming to the organisation helping and the organisation being helped."

He says the help made a direct impact in terms of the gardening, and making the shelter more home-like; the community days helped him as an individual gain confidence in helping out and building a habit of contributing to the community and benefited the company by being part of a team and supporting colleagues.

Jeyaraj adds: "When colleagues do it together as part of a team, it can encourage more people to get involved.

"It broke the ice and made a way for colleagues and myself to talk with and approach people who were homeless.

"It helps broaden our thinking, too, taking us out of our bubble. It's good to see what different communities live close to you and helps you understand what is the purpose of life – to make some positive change."

4) Mutual benefit

Diana Hyde is a global HR director in the US, formerly a wealth manager and banker, and has spent the past 20 years volunteering for a US-based charity called Minds Matter in her spare time.

Minds Matter runs educational mentoring programme for lower-income children to help them get into college. She has mentored three students and is still in touch with all of them, and sees them regularly.

She was also interim executive director for the New York chapter before going to graduate school herself, which gave her plenty of opportunity to meet other students.

Hyde describes the many barriers that exist that discourage and make it harder for first-generation students to go through the processes like application and funding and networking that will allow them to get into a good college.

So Minds Matter provides additional resources. She believes mentoring is good for mutual wellbeing because it draws on and teaches the good in having a level social capital, which is necessary to navigate this world.

We are always learning and growing. Diana Hyde, Minds Matter

She says: "It makes life a lot easier to have the help of someone who has been through the process before and who can give guidance on how to approach something new."

And there is mutual benefit to mentoring. For Hyde, wellbeing has come from the relationship with her mentees and from the mutuality and reciprocity in that.

She explains: “The organisation changed my life such a meaningful way and helped me align what gave me energy and purpose with my impact on the world.

"When you show up for someone and you can hold space for them and listen to them it really positively impacts on you are feeling about yourself and especially as it changes and there is a reciprocity in that relationship it is even more meaningful.”

“Yes, I am providing something to someone else, but more often than not they are providing something to me. A new way of looking at something, or helping someone problem solve something that helps me look at something in a different manner.

"We are always learning and growing.”

Anita Boniface is a freelance journalist