Pro Bono Economics were supported by the Bank of America Charitable Trust to deliver a piece of research focused on the question of: “How cost-effective are employee volunteering schemes as a way of improving staff wellbeing?”
This project, delivered using the input of our own skilled volunteers, was completed in two phases:
Phase 1 incorporated a rapid evidence review to identify studies that established a link between volunteering and wellbeing.
Phase 2 built on this evidence review to assess how the wellbeing cost-effectiveness of employee volunteering schemes might compare to other initiatives to improve wellbeing.
However, there is currently significant uncertainty around our estimates and more evidence is required
A number of volunteer characteristics have been linked to increased wellbeing impacts from volunteering:
The evidence from Phase 1 suggests that volunteering “a few times per year” is likely to generate around a 0.06 point improvement in Life Satisfaction, on a scale of 0-10. This is a small but meaningful improvement compared to the impact of other factors that affect wellbeing. However, in order to understand whether this makes corporate volunteering schemes worthwhile we need to understand “Are employee volunteering schemes likely to be a cost-effective way of improving staff wellbeing?”. To answer this question, we have used a wellbeing cost-effectiveness analysis and concluded:
PBE is grateful for the support of Charlie Courtney, Thomas Dooner, Richard James and William Lobo who volunteered their time on this project.
18 March 2021