Press release: Volunteering in your workplace event

Published: 28th September 2011
Authour: Time & Talents Westminster (part of Volunteer Centre Westminster)

Time & Talents Westminster is inviting leaders of businesses and charities to a workshop to learn more about a specialist scheme enabling employers to support their staff to volunteer in the community in innovative ways using their skills.

Opening doors: Innovating ways to support the community from the workplace takes place on Monday, 3 October (9.30am-1pm) and as Microsoft, one of their partners, is hosting the event, attendance is free of charge, we have 59 attendees due to take part from business, government and community sectors..

A not-for-profit partnership run by the Volunteer Centre Westminster, Times & Talents enables private, public and voluntary sector bodies to work together to deliver employer-supported volunteering and local, corporate community involvement. They try and match the skills of the volunteers to an organisation where they can the most value.

"Many of us travel into Westminster and work there five days a week without taking much notice of the community that lives around our office buildings," says Sam Jennings, Employee Volunteering Team Leader with Time & Talents. "We want employees in those offices to volunteer their time during working hours and on their premises."

There are benefits to be had on both sides for such a scheme. The community gets exposure to the world of work and can build relationships with local employers as well as tapping into the expertise there for free. For businesses involved in this type of voluntary work, it's a more efficient way for their employees to volunteer their skills while offering real-life learning opportunities.

As Sam points out, "Volunteering isn't just about outreach into the community but can also be a way to involve people in the workplace and allow both sides to gain new experiences and insights, and share skills."

To register for the workshop, go to http://timeandtalents.eventbrite.com/

Notes for editors

1. Time & Talents for Westminster: www.ttw.org.uk
Volunteer Centre Westminster
53-55 Praed Street
London
W2 1NR

2. Contact: Sam Jennings, Employee Volunteering Team Leader:
Email: sam@volunteer.co.uk
Tel: 020 7087 4359 Mob: 0795 1922 574

3. Our current employer partners include: Barclays, BlueBay, Dept of Transport, John Lewis Partnership, Land Securities, Microsoft, Office for Disability Issues, Dept of Energy & Climate Change, Chartered Institute for Management Accountants, Conservative campaigns Headquarters, Dept of Health, PricewaterhouseCoopers, SThree and Westminster City Council (founding member in 1996).

Invitation Opening doors:Innovating ways to support the community from the workplace A Workshop

We would like to invite you to take part in our upcoming workshop on the 3rd of October hosted by Microsoft.

This event is for leaders from businesses and charities to share their experiences and ideas around employee volunteering within the workplace. This is a great way to learn more about this topic, about each other and also contribute your own thoughts to generate interesting discussions and future volunteering collaborations.

Volunteering isn’t just about outreach into the community but can also be a way to involve people in the workplace and allow both sides to gain new experiences, insights & share skills.

This article was kindly written by a Employee Volunteer: Susan Hinchsliffe – Dept for Transport