As we prepare to go to print at the end of October, an expected 100,000 employees and their families were due to be volunteering their time to local communities, thanks to the annual CSV Make a Difference Day. The Barclays-sponsored research that accompanied the run-up to the day is significant less for its actual findings – based on relatively small numbers from the already convinced – and more for the clarity of its business case: improved morale among hard-to-reach groups, leading to less costly absenteeism and higher long term retention.
Enough evidence is available for community affairs managers to put together a pretty convincing cost-benefit analysis. With participation rates ever growing (Barclays’ one in three is high but not now untypical), the costs are real. Before the FD decides to put a number on it, why not outflank him (it usually is) and quantify the benefits?
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