Companies Turn to Volunteerism to Foster Team Spirit

Companies are increasingly getting their employees involved in hands-on volunteer projects as way to teach workers how to collaborate, The New York Times reports.

Alan Ranzer, executive director of Impact 4 Good, an East Hanover, N.J., organization that matches corporate groups with volunteer opportunities, said his group has received 50 percent more requests from corporations in the past year. “We really are getting a lot more calls,” Mr. Ranzer said. “ It’s something companies are picking up for multiple reasons.”

The benefits to corporations go well beyond building effective teams of workers, the newspaper said.

Charles Moore, executive director of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, a nonprofit group in New York, said that a company that promotes volunteering can attract and retain talented workers and also gain the attention of customers and suppliers.

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