Volunteering: well-being's great ally
Something we have been working on since our inception is to be able to value not only the capacity of volunteering to transform our societies, which it has, but also to analyse how it generates positive effects for the people who practice it and for the organisations that promote it.
The fact of being able to investigate has allowed us to demonstrate that corporate volunteering increases the commitment of employee volunteers by 20% or that volunteering allows the development of key skills in organisations, such as the ability to innovate, to adapt to change, to communicate better and to work better as a team.
But we have not only shown this, we have also discovered the keys to maximising this increase in commitment and what volunteering projects need to look like if we want to develop certain employee skills.
Keys to volunteering for well-being
How does volunteering influence the well-being of those who volunteer?
- Volunteering allows us to relativise the problems we have.
- To connect with other aspects of life that we do not usually encounter easily in our day-to-day lives.
- To get to know other realities.
- To find a purpose in what we do.
- Not forgetting the endorphin-producing capacity of doing something for others.
Now, Oxford scientists have shown, for example, that volunteer programmes are the only ones that scientifically generate a possible impact within what is known as “Well-being” within companies, something in which they are investing more and more resources because they are aware of how important it is to take care of their people.
This study provides a new approach to the importance of volunteering; in addition to the social impact that volunteers generate, we are promoting an empathetic, active citizenship that cares and responds to the problems that surround us, … and that, today more than ever, is very important.
Volunteering generates very positive effects on our health, physical, mental and emotional, so companies that promote it, are offering the opportunity to know something of great value to their employees, something they will never forget.
