These 5 Reward Methods Are Bound to Boost Employee Volunteer Rates

Are you tired of reminding employees to volunteer? Do you wish they would just take the initiative and follow your program’s guidelines? Your financial institution may have a clear volunteer program, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get employees to comply.

People are busy, and finding time to volunteer may not be at the top of your coworkers’ lists. Now it falls on you and your team (if you’re lucky enough to have a team) to remind employees, promote volunteer opportunities, and manage a tracking system. There are plenty of ways to make this easier, but one of those ways is by providing some kind of reward or incentive to volunteer.

When you incentivize employees to volunteer, they are better able to see the value and take the time to help their community. It’s not that employees don’t care about their community when they don’t volunteer; they just don’t have the time or, possibly, the proper incentive. When they see that they’ll be rewarded for volunteering, they’ll realize how important it is to your institution that they do this good work.

Here are five reward methods that are bound to boost employee volunteer rates and make your job a little easier (because who doesn’t want that?).

Cash incentive

Cash is a driving factor in everyday life. We work for cash, trade cash, save cash, and need more cash. A handful of cash can seem unlimited in its potential. When given extra cash, employees can do whatever they want with it. Go on vacation, buy that fancy hot tub, pay down scary debt, splurge on those groceries, or save for a rainy day.

This makes cash a great way to incentivize employees to volunteer. Maybe every hour they spend helping others equals a $5 bonus on their next paycheck. Maybe the person with the most monthly volunteer hours in each department gets a $100 check—that’s bound to get some attention.

There are a lot of ways to reward employees with cash. And when employees see that they may be able to earn a few extra bucks, chances are they’ll leap at that next volunteer opportunity.

Non-cash incentive

When it comes to rewarding employees, cash isn’t always the best way to go. In fact, 65% of employees actually prefer non-cash incentives. Here are some non-cash reward ideas:

Reserved front-row parking spots
More vacation time
Higher priority when approving time off
A gift basket
Tickets to a local playhouse, amusement park, or sporting event

As long as your non-cash reward is compelling and desirable, employees will likely jump at the chance. Need some more volunteers for that financial literacy event you have coming up? Announce that everyone who volunteers will be entered into a drawing for a spa gift basket. Then sit back and watch those registrations pile in.

Need more non-cash incentive ideas?

Points system

Another common reward method is having a points system where points can be exchanged for items, gift cards, or donations. This is a great way to encourage repeat volunteerism and get employees excited about volunteer opportunities.

For example, Washington Trust's Reach for the STARS program has been very effective in getting employees to volunteer. Washington Trust employees earn STAR points each time they volunteer at a company-organized event. Attending a 2–3 hour event is worth 5 STAR points, and employees can earn more points for inviting friends and family members to participate, submitting photos after the event, wearing bank swag, and more. Employees can also earn points for serving on nonprofit boards, advisory councils, or committees.

At the end of the year, each employee can redeem their points for various gift cards or swag items (including jackets, beach towels, mugs, umbrellas, and more). Employees can also redeem their points in exchange for a charitable donation. In this case, 1 point = $1 for the nonprofit of their choice.

Washington Trust tracks employee STAR points with Kadince. When employees volunteer, their hours are updated in the software and STAR points are assigned.

Wouldn’t this be a fun way to boost employee volunteer rates?

Team rewards

Most of these reward methods focus on rewarding each employee for the time they spend volunteering. Instead of rewarding team members individually, you might reward an entire team or department for their service.

Holding a fun contest between departments is a great way to encourage volunteerism and spread the word about volunteer opportunities. You could announce that the department with the most volunteers at the next financial literacy event gets a pizza party. Or whichever department logs the most volunteer hours this month gets a week of casual dress. There are many ways to incentivize teams. You’ve just got to figure out what your coworkers want.

If you aren’t sure how to best incentivize team members, try sending out a survey. Ask them what they’d most like to win and go from there. Maybe a coworker suggests something you never would’ve thought of but that gains a lot of traction. Most systems work best after feedback, and this situation is no different.

Need more team reward ideas? Download this PDF.

Recognition

If your management team isn’t keen on spending lots of money to get employees to volunteer, that doesn’t mean you can’t make an impact. Another great way to reward employees is by recognizing their efforts and showing appreciation.

This can be done in several ways. First, decide whether employees will be rewarded publicly or privately. If you want to reward employees privately, consider giving a gift card to show appreciation. Stop by each employee’s desk and drop it off yourself or have a member of the leadership team drop it off. Thank them for the time they’ve spent volunteering and share how much of an impact they’ve had. Don’t just send a mass email thanking everyone for their hard work. That’s a good start, but follow it up with something more personal. If employees work from home, at least do a video call with them.

If you reward employees publicly, this can be a lot of fun. You might hold a company-wide volunteer ceremony. Or a smaller, catered lunch each month for top volunteers.

For example, Bankers Trust holds an annual Employee Volunteer Awards ceremony that recognizes team members and bank committees that have gone above and beyond in their communities.

Since the bank started the Employee Volunteer Awards in 2016, more than 90 team members have been honored, and the bank has donated over $52,000 to local nonprofits (each winner gets to donate money to a nonprofit of their choice)!

Learn more about Bankers Trust’s volunteer program.

Kadince can help

To successfully reward employees for volunteering, you have to track employee volunteer hours. With spreadsheets, this process is difficult and time-consuming. But with Kadince, tracking and managing all employee volunteer hours is a piece of cake.

Not only does Kadince track hours, but these hours can be logged automatically after an event. When it’s time to reward employees for volunteering, all you have to do is look in Kadince and see how many hours each employee has. Now you can reward the winners and encourage the rest to step it up.

The Kadince Hours dashboard showing month’s view of employee volunteer hours

To learn more about how Kadince makes it easy to track and manage employee volunteer hours, schedule a demo.

None of Kadince, Inc., its affiliates, or its respective employees, directors, officers, and agents (collectively, “Kadince”) are responsible or liable for any content or information incorporated herein. Read full disclosure.