Posts Tagged ethical job

Giving staff the chance to take on volunteering jobs will pay back in the end

June 11, 2009 at 11:51 am · Filed under volunteering ·Tagged , , , , ,

Volunteering charity TimeBank reports this week that employees are reluctant to ask for time off work to volunteer.

This is hardly surprising given the current struggle businesses are in to stay afloat during the recession. Put yourself in a manager’s position; would you rather that your staff take a week off to clean waterways and work with vulnerable children, or stay at work and make as much money as possible for their wages?

It seems like a no-brainer, but taking a closer look, it might not be. TimeBank conducted a survey through a well-known jobs website, bringing in 3,000 responses from staff and jobseekers, as well as 500 employers themselves. Two-thirds of employees and job-seekers said that they were “worried” about asking for the time off to volunteer.

Here’s the tricky part. 83% of employers said that they see voluntary work as valuable experience. That’s something we at JuicyJobs have been saying for a while; a volunteering job can boost your ethical job search enormously, with skills, experience and contacts to boot. Half of the employers in the survey also said, however, that they felt their employees were afraid to ask for the time off.

Now, what’s going on here? Those employers value volunteering jobs, and know their employees might want to volunteer. They also know their employees might not want to come forward. Either, those 50% of employers would rather keep things that way, thank you very much, or they are missing a great opportunity to invest in their staff.

According to Helen Walker, chief executive of TimeBank, volunteering is a great way to boost morale amongst staff. So, if employers are also aware of this, why not give employees the gentle, supporting shove they need to make it all happen?

Some businesses are already cashing in on the benefits of sending their staff volunteering together. Ford Motor Company, whilst not exactly a bastion of green jobs or ethical careers, regularly sends teams of Ford workers out on volunteering schemes with children’s charities, where those workers’ skills are put to good use in, say, refurbishing children’s playgrounds at hospices. In this case, the company pays the staff for the day, and so is effectively donating a days’s work to charity, but a similar principle applies.

If companies across the board were to adopt staff volunteering schemes, think of the long term benefits. Organising set projects for staff to volunteer on would make it much easier for staff to access volunteering, without fearing a rebuke for asking for time off. Staff volunteering together would help to build good working relationships between teams, and, when those staff members return, they might just feel a little more refreshed and ready after breaking the daily grind for a while. In the end, think about the long-term benefits; giving employees a few days off per year for them to come back energised and enthusiastic, whilst making the business look great, can only be good news.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in the UK.

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Ladies flash girl power in volunteering jobs – but are they making the most of it?

June 5, 2009 at 11:01 am · Filed under volunteering ·Tagged , , , , , ,

According to a new survey from YouthNet and v, women overwhelmingly dominate volunteering jobs.

In today’s world, where men still command the greater majority of top executive positions and consistently get paid more than women working at the same level, it’s certainly refreshing to see women shining through in at least one area. The survey throws up the question, however, of whether volunteers of either gender are getting the best they can from volunteering.

The survey, which was completed by 925 volunteers and carried out by do-it.org, showed that 72% of respondents are female. Perhaps predictably, it also said that the most popular area to volunteer in was education or other forms of working with children, whilst working with prisoners and ex-offenders was the least popular.

Up until this point, it seems all well and good, until we discover that 10% of volunteers find their placements “boring”, and a further one in ten said that their placements were “disorganised”.

So what is going on here? Women, who are statistically disadvantaged in the jobs market, even in hip and progressive green careers, are attempting to boost their employment credentials by taking on volunteering jobs, which provide experience and contacts. That’s positive, but then, volunteers are gravitating – perhaps through preference, perhaps due to sexist expectation – towards teaching and working with children. On top of this, a sizeable proportion is bored with disorganised placements, which implies that volunteers are not getting a great deal out of it at all.

There are a few problems here. Perhaps volunteers do not realise the sheer range of volunteering that is available out there, in all sectors, and simply slip into the classroom assistant role. Despite the earlier jibes about men dominating everything, why are men only a small minority in the volunteering sector?

It may all boil down to the same problem; a lack of positive representation in the ether about volunteering. From this picture, women volunteer to boost their experience, but men, with their statistical employment advantage, disregard it as they do not need any more help. Further, due to the relatively low profile of volunteering, volunteers stick in a position that bores and frustrates them, instead of choosing a different role from a wide range of options.

What we need to solve this problem is a greater drive to attract interest in volunteering positions. This has already started, with various government officials and ministers supporting volunteering projects, but more needs to be made of the variety of volunteering jobs out there, and the benefits – aside from CV buffing – that a volunteering job can bring.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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Boris promotes green volunteering (and takes a dive)

June 5, 2009 at 10:56 am · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

You may think that London Mayor Boris Johnson is less suited to controlling one of the world’s most powerful cities and more to, well, just bumbling about, really. This month, however, Boris was able to combine his two roles in a particularly amusing way.

In order to promote volunteering, Boris was present at a clean-up project at the River Pool in Lewisham. The project was run by charity Thames21, which is committed to ridding London’s waterways of pollution and stagnation.

Whilst striding about importantly in the river, rolling up his sleeves and helping other volunteers pull out harmful plant Himalayan balsam, Boris stumbled into a deeper patch of the water and sank chest deep into the murky liquid.

As one on-looker proclaimed the tumble as “classic” of the Mayor, volunteers rushed to the floppy-haired-one’s aid. During an interview later, Boris said:

“In order to promote this (volunteering), I took the maybe ultimate sacrifice. I decided to fall in a very spectacular way.”

It wasn’t all self-deprecating joke, however; Boris had a serious message about volunteering. He said:

“Volunteering is good for individuals and great for London in tough economic times.

“By giving your time, whether a one-off few hours or a regular commitment, we can both help to make the capital a more civilised, pleasant place and reap the rewards of putting something back into the communities in which we live.”

Boris did not mention how useful volunteering, especially in an environmental project, can work wonders for your CV if you are looking to get into a green job or an ethical career. The experience and contacts gained are invaluable, so get volunteering and get on the ladder!

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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The green job showcasing begins; General Election anyone?

May 29, 2009 at 5:27 pm · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , , ,

The MP expenses scandal can go down in one of two ways in the history and politics textbooks in years to come. It will either be the last twist of the knife in the ribs of the dying New Labour beast, or the clean-up operation that saves Labour for another fiver years in government.

Either way, the vultures are naturally circling, and green jobs and environmental investment are a ticket that every party is riding, breathless in anticipation of an election.

Just in case there is an election – and David Cameron has been calling for one for around three years now – party leaders are making a great show of support for green job schemes and investment in environmental business and technology.

Last week, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg tagged himself to an innovative green investment scheme in Bristol. Clegg, by the way, must be thoroughly enjoying the expenses scandal; since the Telegraph broke the story (and continued to smash it every day since), ordinary people have actually recognised him on the news.

The scheme is called the Green Bonds scheme, and is run by Bristol City Council. It allows people to invest in sustainable businesses by buying “Green Bonds” in organisations developing environmental technology.

Clegg, grinning from ear to ear, launched the project at Bristol University’s SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre. He said:

“Green Bonds will allow people in Bristol to invest in new green technologies.

“By supporting small businesses, Green Bonds will create new jobs and help create an infrastructure for a long-term, green economic recovery.”

So there you have it; a quiet nudge from Clegg to associate the Liberal Democrats not only with community engagement, but also investment, green jobs and environmental responsibility. Who knows? If the third party do get in at the next General Election, they may even provide the green jobs we all hope will shove us out of the recession.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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Volunteering craze sweeps the nation!

May 22, 2009 at 9:02 am · Filed under volunteering ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Volunteering England this week reported that its centres around the country are struggling to cope for the demand for volunteering jobs.

87% of the organisation’s 350 volunteer centres have experienced a 70% increase in demand for volunteering projects since Christmas. ThirdSector.co.uk reports that Dominic McClean, chief executive of Northampton Volunteering Centre, said: “A tidal wave of new volunteers hit us around Christmas and has built since then.”

He also called for more funding to allow volunteer centres to recruit more staff to help people access volunteering opportunities.

For months now, since the recession took hold, the focus has been on what role volunteering will play. There has been a lot of talk about how volunteering jobs can provide people between jobs with the skills and experience to keep their careers on track. There has also been great emphasis on the need for volunteers to deliver services that the public need now more than ever as times are tight.

It is clear from Volunteering England’s sudden influx of volunteers that people across the country are willing to give up their time and energy for free, and all that is left now is for local authorities to harness that. Many are jumping at the chance to maximise volunteering resources, with volunteering projects popping up all over the country to help care for the elderly, tackle knife crime and maintain the environment.

By the looks of things, however, with hundreds of volunteers raring to go, there will be many more volunteering schemes cropping up in the next few months.

If you are looking to learn new skills, meet people and gain experience, volunteering can be a great way to do it. Visit your local volunteering centre, check the listings on JuicyJobs.biz, or even see how you can set up your own volunteering scheme; you could really make a difference to people around you.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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