Ask a CSR Friend: Leveraging the Employee Engagement Survey to Support Your Employee Volunteer Program

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Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned pro, we know collaboration is key to creating vibrant workplaces where employees are equipped to contribute to the communities and causes they care about. So, when you need a trusted advisor to lean on, rely on Points of Light to be Your CSR Friend. Each month, our experts share their wisdom and wit to address a specific but often universal challenge related to your work as a corporate social impact practitioner.

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Dear CSR Friend,

Help! After years of asking for space in the annual employee engagement survey, I’ve finally been given a chance to include a question or two on volunteering. However, now I find myself unsure about what to ask and how to ask it to gather the most valuable insights. How can I make the most of this long-awaited opportunity?

Survey-ready in San Antonio

Dear Survey-ready in San Antonio,

First, take a moment to celebrate your achievement — securing a spot in the employee engagement survey is no small victory! You’ve opened a new channel for elevating the role of volunteering at your company. Now the challenge is making those precious survey questions work hard for you.

The key is to start with your strategy – begin by clarifying what insights will be most beneficial for your CSR initiatives and your organization. Are you aiming to understand the impact of volunteering on employee engagement, wellbeing, company culture, or professional development? Pinpointing your goals will help you tailor your questions for actionable results. Here are some sample questions for key areas to consider:

• Fostering Belonging
  • To what extent does volunteering with [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE] help you build new or deeper relationships with your colleagues?
• Supporting Wellbeing
  • If at all, how much does volunteering help reduce your stress / improve your mood / strengthen your sense of purpose working at [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]?
  • Tip: Choose one option or separate into multiple questions to better isolate the responses.
• Strengthening Company Culture
  • Do you believe [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]’s volunteer experiences play a meaningful role in shaping and strengthening our company culture?
• Promoting Personal or Professional Growth
  • To what extent did participating in this volunteer project help you develop or improve any personal/professional skills?
  • Tip: Choose one option or separate into multiple questions to better isolate the responses.
• Increasing Workplace Satisfaction
  • If at all, how does volunteering affect your sense of pride in working at [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]?

Next, it’s important to frame the questions in the best possible way to get usable data. Phrases like “If at all…” or “To what extent…” may seem small, but they can help shape the quality of data returned by encouraging honest, nuanced feedback and avoiding forcing participants into binary positive/negative responses. Watch out for double-barreled questions – avoid combining multiple topics in a single question; instead, split them to clarify what respondents are addressing.

Don’t forget that while inclusion in the annual survey is a significant opportunity, it shouldn’t be the only method for gathering feedback. Consider these additional strategies:

• Post-Event Volunteer Surveys: Implement or update surveys following volunteer events to capture immediate feedback.
• Pulse Surveys: Use company-wide chat platforms like Slack or Teams for quick, focused polls.
• Giving & Volunteering Platforms: Leverage tools such as Benevity or YourCause to integrate feedback mechanisms directly into your volunteer programs.

Your survey space is precious real estate. By thoughtfully designing survey questions anchored in business priorities, framing them clearly, and diversifying your feedback methods, you’ll gain richer insights into the value and impact of volunteering at your company. This data can help you advocate for continued investment in CSR initiatives, demonstrate the benefits of your programs to leadership, and ultimately cultivate a more engaged, fulfilled workforce.

Good luck with your survey, and congratulations again on taking this important step toward amplifying the voice of volunteers at your workplace!

Until next time,
Your CSR Friend

Learn more about how we can help you level up your employer’s social impact efforts and why your company should join top corporate social impact leaders and become a member of the Points of Light Corporate Service Council. Still have questions? Don’t forget you can always ask a CSR friend!