Effects of an Employee Volunteering Program on the Work Force: The ABN-AMRO Case

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 61; no. 2; pp. 143 - 152
• Main Authors: de Gilder, Dick, Schuyt, Theo N. M., Breedijk, Melissa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01-10-2005; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: ABN-AMRO; Age groups; Attitudes; Banking; Banks; Business ethics; Business structures; Business studies; Case studies; Children; Children & youth; Communities; Corporate governance; Effects; Employee attitude; Employee morale; Employees; Employers; Families & family life; International banks; Nonprofit corporations; Organizational behavior; Psychological attitudes; Reputations; Social aspects; Social integration; Social norms; Social responsibility; Social responsibility of business; Sociodemographics; Voluntary work; Volunteer labor; Volunteer service; Volunteerism; Volunteers; Netherlands
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-005-7101-x

One of the new ways used by companies to demonstrate their social responsibility is to encourage employee volunteering, whereby employees engage in socially beneficial activities on company time, while being paid by the company. The reasoning is that it is good for employee motivation (internal effects) and good for the company reputation (external effects). This article reports an empirical investigation of the internal effects of employee volunteering conducted amongst employees of the Dutch ABN-AMRO bank. The study showed that (a) socio-demographic characteristics from employee volunteers markedly differ from those of non-volunteers and community volunteers and (b) employee volunteering seems to have positive effects on attitudes and behavior towards the organization.