A Hampshire-based online recruitment agency has been selected by national volunteer development organisation, Volunteering England, to show you donít need the budget of a multinational corporation to sponsor staff in their voluntary work.
The company, jobsite, which employs 120 people and has an annual turnover of 20 million has been leading the field in internet recruitment since the mid-nineties, began forming partnerships with the local community through their growing volunteer programme. Jobsiteís head of Human Resources, Jackie Jones, said: ëWeíre a family orientated company, probably because we were founded by three brothers. So thereís a genuine desire to give something back ñ weíre passionate about that.
Through Jackieís links with the Chamber of Commerce, Jackie heard about the local Education Business Partnership. Part of a national network, the EBP builds relationships between education and business groups: ëI called their director to offer support and he jumped at the chance.í
Jobsiteís volunteers will attend 16 career workshops at schools and colleges across the region over a 12 month period, helping pupils with CV writing and interviewing skills. ëWeíll also be doing enterprise days ñ like the TV programme Dragonsí Den,í said Jackie.
Christopher Spence, Chief Executive of Volunteering England added: ëSmall companies are an essential part of a thriving local community which is why we are so keen to spread the word about the good work they are doing with local charities, and to encourage other companies to follow suit.í
Over the past 15 years there has been a large-scale drive to encourage big firms to support employee volunteering and, as a result, many well-known names like Marks and Spencer and Barclays have employee volunteering programmes in place and recognise the benefits to the company and staff in employee morale, staff retention and productivity.
Now Volunteering England wants to spread the message to smaller companies that by following the expert advice on their website you can set up a scheme economically which will be of benefit to your employees and company alike.
Businesses can visit www.volunteering.org.uk/SME now for a complete guide on setting up their own scheme and to see how it helped other small businesses around the country.
Jobsite has been selected by national volunteer development organisation
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