When asked to highlight my favourite sustainable benefit, I automatically thought of our 32.5 hour full-time working week or perhaps our various health and wellbeing support measures.
However, on reflection, I opted instead for our volunteering days provisions, where employees are provided with paid time off to engage in volunteering activities. In truth, not because the take-up of the facility within our own organisation is of the highest order; not because it regularly features through our engagement measures or other feedback opportunities; not because it is a central feature of our recruitment campaigns, nor does it hold a prominent place in our retention efforts.
What it does for me is to serve as a reminder of the importance of volunteers to our cause.
Volunteers remain a lynchpin in the success of Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS) as we strive to deliver our No Life Half Lived strategy for our service users. From our trustees who make up our Board, to those who support our fund-raising activities and events, to those who give so generously of their time in shops across the country, we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our volunteering population and we are working hard to encourage people to volunteer in their own way with us.
Volunteer involvement is woven into the fabric of CHSS, with each and every volunteer contributing a unique set of skills, experience, insights and connections.
Our own support for volunteering work is just a little reminder as to how much volunteers mean to us as a charity and how much they matter to our service users.
Gary Brewer is director of people and culture at Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS)
