Corporate volunteers

Helping the needy, serving as mentors or planting trees are among the many volunteer activities that employees in US companies have been doing for decades - largely due to the American philanthropic mindset.

Such social engagement is now widespread among employees at German companies as well, according to a joint study by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany.

Nearly 84 percent of companies in Germany surveyed for the study say they regularly practice corporate volunteering and maintain it will play an ever-increasing role.

Good corporate citizenship

One of the authors, Barbara Stahl of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, points to a few reasons why companies are interested in supporting corporate volunteering.

In addition to a general sense of social responsibility, companies, particularly the larger ones, have a "self-interest as they face greater competition from their international peers and the war for talent," she told Deutsche Welle.

"They realize that good corporate citizenship is an important component of a healthy corporate culture, and that potential candidates select employers, among other factors, according to their social commitments."

Stahl added that with Germany becoming a migrant country, "helping immigrant families who need support is also helping a new generation of workers and the economy."

Yet differences exist between US and German companies when it comes to their corporate volunteering drive and practices.

"Employees in US subsidiaries often volunteer with co-workers as part of a team, offering their skills and labor for volunteering projects," said Eva Funhoff, a spokeswoman with the American Chamber of Commerce in Frankfurt.

"This team approach is partly due to the popularity of the 'Social Day' programs in the US where groups of employees from companies like McDonalds volunteer to paint kindergartens or plant trees."

Extending a helping hand

In German companies, by comparison, employees tend to volunteer as individuals, serving, for instance, as a mentor to a schoolchild or an adviser to a school principal.

Also, according to Funhoff, a US company or subsidiary typically focuses its corporate volunteering efforts on projects in its home market, whereas a German company often has employees rendering a helping hand in Africa or Asia.

Among some of the other key findings of the survey: most corporate volunteers are between 30 and 50 years old; companies with annual revenues exceeding 250 million euros show greater support for corporate volunteering than smaller companies - 90.7 percent and 75.7 percent respectively; and while corporate volunteers in US companies are largely workers and office staff, many volunteers in German companies are managers.

Funhoff pointed to a new publication of the chamber that lists Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Post as well as Daimler, Volkswagen and Siemens as German companies with extensive corporate volunteering programs.

Author: John Blau
Editor: Sam Edmonds