Something for Businesses to Ponder...

It's Student Volunteering Week from next Monday (Feb 24). All across the country students will be doing good deeds for others -  in fact, Monday is officially Good Deed Day.

In our own back yard students in Portsmouth will be helping to clean up the storm-battered beach, while Winchester’s finest will be taking part in a volunteering hustle in aid of Naomi House and Jacks Place.

Over in Bournemouth students will be down on the community farm in their wellies, getting their hands dirty for a great cause.

And in Southampton students will be taking part in a series of events across the city.

My partner’s son recently graduated and I was struck at the time by the Vice Chancellor’s speech where he highlighted the enormous amount of volunteering students get up to while they are at university.

They had helped to raise many thousands of pounds for charity and given their time and brain power to help community projects get off the ground or keep going.

This has to be good for the students because it shows them there is a world beyond the lecture theatre and it undoubtedly benefits the towns and cities where they give their time for good causes.

Increasingly you hear it said that graduates joining businesses are concerned that their employer is contributing to their community and giving something back. (I understand some use this as a criteria when deciding which companies to apply to for work).

According to the experts, those born between 1980 and 2000 or Generation Y as they are more commonly known, are less interested in financial gain than their parents, and more concerned with job fulfilment.

More than just a means of paying the rent, Generation Y see work as a route to exploring their passions, hobbies and philosophies.

The traditional model of being able to do more social and charitable good when you are older and more financially secure is undoubtedly changing. Young people want to increase their pay scale and achieve social good at the same time.

As we inch forward out of the economic gloom of recent years, businesses will once again be looking at how they can make a difference (and resurrect those corporate social responsibility policies that have been sidelined due to budgetary constraints).

Employers should take volunteering into account when they decide which candidates to appoint – and then harness that generosity of spirit to enable their businesses to give something back to the local communities that support them.

It is a virtuous circle – and a resource that companies should be happy to support.

To find out more about Student Volunteering Week go to http://www.studentvolunteeringweek.org.uk/