You probably want your company to be a good corporate citizen in the community.  And your employees are your best ambassadors. When they join Nonprofit boards or spend time helping at a homeless shelter, they showcase the excellent values and skills of the people you hire. 

 But there’s a dilemma. 

 Your employees already juggle work with family obligations and the demands of day-to-day life.  Obviously, you want to avoid burning them out. So you might hesitate to ask your best workers – the ones you most want to be publicly associated with your firm – to do more.

 Take a deep breath and know it’s OK.  It turns out, adding additional “community service” responsibilities benefits both you and your employees.

 Dr. Jessica Rodel at the University of Georgia[1] surveyed employee volunteers and their co-workers to determine effects of volunteer activities.  First, the good news: volunteering did not hurt work performance. And the better news? Volunteers were actually more effective employees.  They reported that working in the community added a sense of “meaning” to their lives, and this sense of purpose made them more successful at work. Their co-workers agreed:  Employees who volunteered completed work projects more accurately and with better attitudes than those who did not.

 So go ahead and refer your top people for volunteer activities or encourage them to serve on nonprofit boards.  To reap maximum benefit from your workers’ volunteer activities, here are some additional tips:

 1-Give your people space to volunteer.  If a good performer asks to leave early once a month to attend a non-profit board meeting, say “Yes.”  They’re benefiting both themselves and your company by participating. And when you support their community work with even a small donation, you’re earning that employee’s loyalty.

 2-Look for people who naturally volunteer.  Some managers worry that someone’s volunteer baseball coaching will interfere with their work, so they’ll choose to hire someone who has no outside commitments.  Rather than seeing an applicant’s record of community involvement as evidence that they could be distracted at work, consider what those volunteer activities represent.  This is someone who will find meaning in both their community and work life.

 3-Encourage volunteer roles that showcase employees’ work expertise.  Consider Donna, a Certified Public Accountant.  Outside of work she leads the Board of Directors’ Finance Committee for a local community theater

group. She also volunteers to teach personal financial literacy skills in a homeless shelter.  Not only is Donna improving her soft skills, building her network, and giving back to her community: she’s also using skills she obtained working for you to help others.  Both you and Donna get a public relations win.

 4-Use volunteer opportunities to make dull work better.  If your employees have to do a lot of tedious, routine work that isn’t very motivating, consider finding ways they can volunteer.  The meaning, variety, and satisfaction they find in community service may help them maintain a more positive attitude and a stronger commitment to you, their employer. 

 There are so many ways companies can make their communities stronger.  When you encourage your employees to be part of your community outreach, you reap double benefits of doing good and creating even better employees.

And don’t forget one last thing: When people feel a sense of belonging to their community, they are more engaged with their employer and more likely to stay with their firm (yet another bonus!).  So go ahead and let your employees volunteer.  You’ll be glad you did.

[1] Rodell, J. B. (2013).  Finding meaning through volunteering: Why do employees volunteer and what does it mean for their jobs?  Academy of Management Journal, 56, 1274-1294.