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VSO - Sharing Skills, Changing Lives

Employee Volunteering

In a world where people work to live, rather than live to work, businesses need to find new and innovative ways to work with local communities and attract outstanding employees. Under our corporate partnerships scheme, your employees will be enabled to take up strategic and developmental assignments with our partner organisations in developing countries to share their skills, expertise and resources.

Benefits of Volunteering

In an independent study into VSO Business Partnerships (participants in the study included 100 experienced business professionals aged 25–36 years, who represent typical clients/employees for Accenture), 90% of respondents stated that a company offering a six-month secondment through VSO would be more attractive. Many volunteers see the schemes as opportunities to enhance their leadership, communication and creative skills and broaden their frame of reference. Participating companies can demonstrate their commitment to the global community and benefit from highly motivated, highly skilled staff.

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Research study on the benefits of VSO volunteering for employees (pdf, 204.5kb)

Examples of Past Placements

Astrid Mandl, a management consultant at Randstad Germany
Astrid was placed with an NGO working for disabled people in Kenya. She advised the management about the HR structures and management skills.

Bruno Goeminne, an IT specialist at Randstad Belgium,
Bruce was placed as an IT Consultant in Awassa, Ethiopia. Bruno worked at an organization that gives administrative and IT support to school in the southern district of Ethiopia, and helped them set up an IT network.

Video

Watch Liz Carter from IBM talking about her experiences as a volunteer

If there is an existing partnership between your company and VSO

VSO has many opportunities available for Corporate Business Partnership volunteers. We need people with experience in strategic planning, organisational development, managing teams, change management, systems development, staff development, financial management, PR and marketing.

Business Partnership volunteers can choose between two types of placements, long or short-term. Long-term placements, 7 – 24 months, require at least 2 years experience with a professional qualification. Whilst short term placements, anything up to 6 months, are aimed at experienced professionals with at least 5 years experience and a professional qualification who can provide advice at senior levels.

Long and short-term volunteers offer different but complementary approaches to sharing skills with our partners overseas. Long-term volunteers have time to immerse themselves into their new roles and communities. In contrast, short-term volunteers have to act as troubleshooters, hitting the ground running and achieving a lot in a short space of time. Both approaches are equally valuable. And both are instrumental in creating lasting change.

To begin the volunteer journey please contact your line manager for approval or for an informal discussion regarding your options at VSO please contact the Corporate Partnerships Placements Advisor, Daniel Luker, on 020 8780 7267 or please e-mail him on daniel.luker@vso.org.uk.

Become a Voluntary Selector

In addition to employee placements abroad, there are opportunities to become a voluntary selector at our head office in London. Voluntary selectors take part in our assessment days with a minimum commitment of 6 days per year, assisting in the selection of suitable candidates for our volunteer placements overseas. It is an excellent opportunity to help promote VSO’s purpose of working towards a more equitable world, while developing assessment skills through experience and ongoing training.

For more information, please email us at corporate.partnerships@vso.org.uk, or telephone on +44 (0)20 8780 7299.