Globally there is a growing emphasis on employee volunteering.
The “Giving in Numbers: 2016 Edition” annual survey on corporate community engagement surveyed 272 multi-billion dollar companies globally (including 62 Fortune 100 companies). Of the 272 companies, more than half conduct volunteering programmes during working hours and the average percentage of employees volunteering at least one hour of work time has increased year-on-year to 33% in 2015. In a study from Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, more than 90% of surveyed companies listed improved employee engagement among the top three benefits of a workplace volunteering programme and almost 70% of the surveyed executives saw corporate philanthropy, workplace giving and employee volunteering programmes as top priorities. More companies are reporting the number of employees who volunteer and number of volunteering hours in their sustainability reports. According to CSR Asia’s research “How Do They Do It?”, some companies have incorporated KPIs such as compulsory volunteering hours for all employees and employee participation rate targets for staff responsible for organising volunteering activities.
Companies are increasingly reporting the number of volunteering hours achieved and often state their intention to increase the percentage of staff taking part in employee volunteering. Most point to employee engagement as a key driver for the implementation of employee volunteering programmes. But does participating in volunteering programmes necessarily result in more engaged employees?
In contrast with the findings above, a 2016 National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School study “From Good Soldiers to Psychologically Entitled: Examining When and Why Citizenship Behavior Leads to Deviance” found that employees who engage in Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) (which includes participating in volunteering programmes) because they feel forced or pressured to (externally motivated), are subsequently more likely to display negative behaviour in the workplace. The negative behaviours observed from the research range from; stealing office supplies, neglecting core work duties and intentionally working slower than one could have, to yelling or cursing at fellow co-workers, treating customers poorly, and behaving rudely toward co-workers.
What is organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB)?
OCB was defined in this research as the behaviour an employee displays or the actions taken that go above and beyond what is required of their job to help or support co-workers or the company. OCB helps to improve the organisational performance of a company. Examples of OCB include assisting co-workers to lighten their heavy workload or giving their personal time to help others who have work or non-work problems or participating in volunteering programmes. Employee volunteering was thus only one of various indicators considered by this research as a display of OCB.
More about the research
Two studies were conducted in the U.S. and China. 82 work groups from multiple sectors in eastern China participated in the first study that examined the negative effects on employees in the workplace. 180 teams of employees and their managers in U.S. participated in the second study that investigated how far the negative behaviour reached through the employees’ social circles.
Key findings include:
Employees who are internally motivated (do not need external reasons) to engage in OCB such as participating in volunteering programmes and are more likely to have a positive effect on employees.
Employees who feel pressured to engage in OCB at work feel entitled to engage in negative behaviour not only in but also out of the workplace with their spouses and friends (e.g. acting rudely). This suggests that the negative behaviours, as a result of forced OCB at work, transcends across boundaries.
These employees who feel pressured to participate in volunteering programmes citing external reasons such as peer pressure, supervisory demands, organisational culture or formal KPI to clock volunteering hours. They engage in negative behaviour because they believe that they are accumulating “credentials” by providing something which is above and beyond their job requirement. This allows them to draw on the credentials necessary to give them a sense of entitlement to engage in negative/self-serving behaviours.
The research however clearly differentiated that the sense of entitlement only corresponded to employees who feel pressured rather than those who are already internally motivated.
What this means for companies
Rather than focusing on increasing the number of volunteering hours, companies should understand the value they will gain (or lose) through employee volunteering. They need to question whether employee volunteering (including company-wide volunteering days) is always beneficial to the employees and the company and whether it leads to more engaged employees – this research has provided clear impetus for companies to stop assuming that physical engagement in volunteering (measured through attendance and hours put in) unequivocally leads to the desired outcome of good organisational citizenship.
This article was taken from here.