Aflac Northern Ireland’s Post

When was the last time you felt the true impact of in-person socializing in the workplace? Last month, my manager and I organized a volunteering event at the Santa Monica office, where we packed hygiene kits for underserved communities. We got so much help from colleagues outside of our team that it reminded me of the benefits and fun of such cross-functional collaborations. As many companies embrace a hybrid work model, it's crucial to recognize the value of engaging in non-mandatory social events such as team lunches and volunteering activities. It's not only about badging in 2-3 times a week, rather reflecting on the broader purpose of why we are where we are and where we want to be in the future: Professional Growth and Impact: Beyond fulfilling our daily responsibilities, our aim is to pursue continuous growth, embrace challenging projects, and ascend to leadership roles within our organizations. Envision yourself as a VP, empowered to steer your company’s contributions towards environmental causes you care for. Keep that image in your mind and get outside of your comfort zone and go to that volunteering event that is pending in your inbox. Networking and Diverse Perspectives: Participating in such events presents an opportunity to expand our network and gain insights from diverse perspectives. Genuine engagement and connection with others not only enrich our professional lives but also contribute to personal growth. Sense of Belonging and Impact: Feeling part of something impactful and having a sense of belonging brings peace of mind. Collective efforts allow us to contribute to causes at a scale that goes beyond our individual capacity. If you can pack 20 hygiene kits by yourself, Amazon can deliver 200,000 hygiene kits to people who need those. I'd love to hear from the leaders in my network about the strategies you're using to motivate people to attend team lunches and other non-mandatory events in these post-pandemic days. So far, I've only thought of good, timely communication through multiple channels, one-to-one invites, and good food:) Do you have any other ideas worth experimenting with? #rto #postpandemic #returntooffice #volunteering #teamlunch #teamevents #helpingothers #leadershipadvice #personalgrowth

Did you know that volunteering can boost your career? By dedicating time to community service, you not only help others but also enhance your professional skills. 🌟 Remember, active community involvement enriches both your personal growth and your workplace impact! 🌎✨ What volunteering experiences have shaped your work life? Share below! #CommunityImpact #CareerGrowth

For National Volunteer Month, we're sharing tips for seamlessly making service a part of your organizational identity and values: Formalize It:  Set annual volunteer goals, offer paid time off for service, and establish committees to organize opportunities. This signals volunteering is a real priority. Lead from the Top:  Have executives volunteer alongside employees to inspire through example and create buy-in. Tap Personal Passions: Survey your team's cause interests and rotate volunteer events to align with different missions they care about. Emphasize Teamwork: Make group volunteering a bonding experience. Close the office periodically for company-wide service days. Promote Your Efforts: Recognize volunteering through internal/external communications and marketing. Sharing impact stories reinforces service as part of your brand. When volunteering is ingrained in your company's cultural DNA, the payoffs are exponential for employees, clients, partners, and the greater community. This April, take steps to make service a year-round passion! #designwithpurpose #givingback #designforgood #communityoutreach

Melissa G. Bublitz, Liz Kramer Professor of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship and professor of Civil Society & Community Studies and Consumer Science, was recently interviewed for an Exact Sciences article about corporate volunteerism. Exact Sciences currently offers 16 hours of paid "Volunteer Time Off" for employees, interns included, to volunteer at nonprofits or community organizations. According to Melissa, a corporate volunteer program “shows that an employer cares, about employees and also about community. It also provides a way to develop the social connections employees have with each other, which can help teams work better together.” Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gnzEp-_4

Starting to hear a lot about companies offering volunteer time off to employees. 🕖 Essentially, these programs allow employees to volunteer during regular work hours - without sacrificing any pay. These programs are run above and beyond any other existing paid time off programs. How can these programs help your volunteer efforts? 👉Recruitment: These programs incentivize supporters to get involved and open up their availability to do so. 👉 Retention: Volunteers are likely to continue engaging when their time is compensated. So, here are my recommended next steps for tapping into those benefits: 📌 See if any of your current volunteers or donors qualify and alert them of the opportunity. 📌 Research companies near you with programs and craft a plan to connect with their employees. What else do you want to know about volunteer time off programs and the emerging trends? Let me know below, and I can dive into the insights my team has gathered so far. ⬇️ Ashley Keener, Ken Waldrop, I'd love to get your insights on how you have benefitted from corporate volunteerism.

👎 Let me start by saying the total lifetime hours I've spent doing community service is way lower than it should be. 👍 BUT, flexible work has absolutely led to me increasing the time I've spent. 📢 That is my response to remote and hybrid work maven Tammy Bjelland's important post asking about this topic. (See the link to her post in the comments!) So I'm still mediocre...I go only a couple times per month. But if you aggregate all individual movement from low to moderate involvement thanks to flexible work...that becomes meaningful at the societal level. 👉 Tammy's query also points to the importance of taking a sociological perspective when we study the impact of hybrid and remote work. Lots of opportunity for research here ... and my home discipline of sociology is set up for some real halcyon days if researchers can seize the opportunity and get themselves plugged into the right conversations and decisions. Some reasons why flexible schedules = more action: ✔ Most volunteer gigs require just a bit more time than an hour. ✔ Many gigs happen during the day. Non-day gigs are harder because they might overlap with caregiving and doing *anything* at the end of the day that's still on a schedule can be tough, if only because we imperfect humans lose momentum. And, if you are wondering, my volunteering has included the following. 🥦 Working at St. Joseph Social Services Center in Elizabeth, NJ. Mostly food pantry but also other things such as holiday gift drive (thus the pic, and see link in comments). 🐕 Friends Of Linden Animal Shelter. Small shelter, walk dogs and clean cages either early as hell in the morning or at dinner time. Actually did this during the pandemic but they temporarily shuttered. Need to pick that back up and I just emailed them to do just that! ❤️ New York Blood Center. Platelet donation. 😂 Dad jokes provided for free to my daughter and other fortunate souls. #remote #hybrid #community #volunteer #engagement #socialservices #workplace

Bias against parents at work — especially for mothers — has been well documented. But that doesn’t mean that people without children don’t face problems too. For people without kids, requesting flexible work arrangements can feel like stepping into uncharted territory, a landscape that often appears dominated by parents seeking to manage school pick-ups and family life. Indeed, the seemingly simple request to work from home can, at times, be a demeaning exercise that reveals the widely held assumption that without kids, there’s little life to balance. Assumptions like these can cast a shadow of hesitation over non-parents, leaving them reluctant to request the flexibility they need. And yes, they do need it. Read about the employers providing flex regardless of being a parent or carer: WORK180 https://lnkd.in/gRFMnmDu

🔥 Tomorrow, R&R: The rest of our lives will announce our BREAKWEEK grantees! Click through to sign up for our mailing list to be the first to know the 15 organizations selected. 🤔 Skeptical about break weeks, or looking to make the case at your company? Check out our resources on how this proven intervention is 🔥. #breakweek #talent #HR #granting #philanthropy The image below is a clickable link that reads "break week" in capital letters. What follows in the smaller text reads, "Break week - R&R: the rest of our lives, and then our website, www.Restofourlives.org.

How to keep motivated and busy following redundancy: - Get up early and get ready for 'work' by 8am - Get out into the fresh air every day - Keep in contact with EVERYONE - Update LinkedIn, update your CV, remind recruiters you are still there - Do some volunteering, help a neighbour, visit elderly friends and family - Take time to enjoy a hobby and invite friends round for 'hobby workshops' - Do things you wouldn't normally have time to do during the week - Have a clear out, tidy up, do a spring clean - Write a post on LinkedIn I have now done all of the above, so please share your suggestions!

As the world prepares to celebrate International Volunteer Day on December 5, we should ask, what are the benefits of volunteering for professionals, and should everyone donate their time at least once throughout their career? Here are my thoughts. Since retiring from full time work, I freely volunteer across a number of charities and community organisations.  It is great fun (how many of us really have fun in our day to day roles?) and is something meaningful to those you are supporting. Volunteers are there because we want to, not because we have to, in order to pay the mortgage or the rent and other living expenses. These roles are often the 'un-sexy' ones that cannot attract a paid employee, so some volunteers are really getting their hands dirty - some for the first time. It gives those people a reality check of what is really important. There are no office politics, which has to be a real bonus! With many companies, including NAB, Mastercard, Oracle and Telstra, offering their staff paid leave to participate in volunteer activities as part of annual leave programs, now is the time to put your hand up and volunteer. Origin Energy employee Helene Young writes on LinkedIn that volunteering "always leaves you feeling better — about yourself and the world we live in”.    I agree - happy volunteering, and cudos to those already participating in a volunteer capacity.    #volunteer #volunteering #LinkedInNewsAustralia