Winston Churchhill once said, “You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.” There are numerous benefits of employees volunteering, not just for the communities they assist, but in providing engaging and meaningful employment that cultivates a sense of purpose that stays with individuals outside of working hours.
Employees who volunteer benefit from learning new skills, polishing their ability to work as a team, and go home a more well-rounded individual with a feeling of self-fulfillment and belonging that can only be felt when one gives back to those in need.
The science behind volunteering and health
When one hears someone talk about volunteering, one can almost always expect to be met with the phrase “I got more out of it than I gave,” and now there is hard science to back that claim.
Studies show that people who engage in regular volunteering have lower levels of loneliness and depression and a greater feeling of intertwinement with their community. In a day and age where mental health is at the forefront of wellness, volunteering is a simple and effective way of counteracting the harsh effects of depression and anxiety.
However, it is not just mental health that is improved by volunteering but also physical health. There is mounting evidence from studies out of Carnegie Mellon University that volunteering can directly impact one’s physical health. While it is impossible to prove an absolute correlation between volunteering and one’s health, the study shows that adults over the age of 50, who volunteered regularly, were less likely to develop high blood pressure than non-volunteers.
Blood pressure is a tremendous indicator of one’s well-being as it is a factor in heart health and stroke prevention. These claims back up an earlier study from 2012, which indicated the same benefits but only when one’s intentions are pure and selfless, and they are volunteering to benefit others and not for themselves.
Source: ICL
Volunteering and our communities
At ICL, we choose to be the tip of the spear. To innovate and lead the way because the communal impact is embedded in our DNA. Sometimes the most simple sayings ring the truest. Dr.Seuss penned the famous saying, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
Even the simplest of phrases can shed light on issues and spark impact to change them. At ICL, we do not believe in waiting for problems to solve themselves or for others to take the reins. Instead, we chose to lead by example and inspire the communities in which we operate to join us in being a part of the solution.
Regardless if it’s on a global scale or around the block, we believe it is our duty to provide innovative solutions that work towards sustainability in some of humanity’s more complicated problems.
Whether it is our outside-the-box thinking and working directly with impacted communities to ensure their needs are met or our industry-leading environmental sustainability standards, ICL utilizes our resources to predict and solve issues before they arise. Unfortunately, in today’s ever-changing environment, not everything can be predicted.
That is why ICL is equally dedicated to providing support and resources for events that are impossible to foresee. We are enormously proud of our volunteers who share their stories of helping others.
You may be interested in:
“As the team leader, I try to get everyone involved to make an impact” – The Volunteer Team Spirit of Kim Johnson
“Volunteering is a Part of Me” – the Story of Aviva Bargal
A Dedicated Employee and Volunteer – The Inspiring Story of Nir Finkelstein
Why do we encourage our employees to volunteer?
Volunteering is a multi-purpose activity that contributes to the betterment of the individual and the communities they serve. The act of donating one’s time and abilities offers them the opportunity to empower themselves and partake in self-actualization.
Employees’ well-being and self-realization
Sometimes you can learn the most about yourself in the unlikeliest of places and situations. These opportunities aid employees to engage in holistic development to their well-being through self-realization and discovering new strengths.
Volunteering helps employees entrench themselves within the values and vision that ICL takes so much pride in. We believe that enriching employees’ lives will make for an enriched company, which allows us to take steps towards changing the world for the better.
At ICL, we are incredibly proud to have volunteering be an integral pillar of our core beliefs. We believe that our corporate social responsibility is to give back and encourage employees to engage in volunteering as often as they can.
Happy and healthy employees are good for business
Once we understand the physical and psychological impacts of volunteering, it becomes clear why having employees engage in volunteering is good for business. The past couple of years have taught us that physical and mental health is paramount for one’s happiness and well-being.
More than ever, employees are factoring these into their decisions regarding employment. One of the many benefits of working at ICL is knowing that not only do we care about the health and well-being of our employees, but we actively encourage and support them in bettering themselves.
ICL employees’ volunteering
Volunteering is a key part of our Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and provides many benefits both to our employees, and the communities in which we operate.
By encouraging ICL employees to engage in volunteering through initiatives such as our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) week, we hope to provide employees with experiences that allow them to have a feeling of self-fulfillment that makes them happy and proud to work for such an organization.
When one is self-fulfilled and engaged in meaningful work that provides them with new skills and experiences, it directly translates into one’s performance in the workplace and their ability to take responsibility not only for their work but for supporting local communities.
The local communities in which we operate give us everything, and it is our corporate and social responsibility to reciprocate when we can. There truly is no better way to show that we care than having our employees engage in volunteering in their local communities in times of need.
The benefits of our employees volunteering and performing meaningful work and our communities becoming closer-knit and trusting of us is unparalleled and a true “win-win” situation. Having happy and healthy employees who feel their physical and mental needs are met is great for business because it correlates with one’s work output and employee retention.
