Grounds Maintenance, Landscape Creation, Arboriculture, Sports Surfacing, Parks management, IOS Managing Safely Training, Ecology & Biodiversity, Grass cutting, Horticulture, Street Cleaning, Soft Landscaping, Hard Landscaping
idverde provides a wide range of green services, including grounds maintenance, landscape creation, and advice services, to both private and public sectors across the UK.
Countries all over the world are celebrating the hard work of volunteers and their far-reaching impact on communities this month. International Volunteer Day, on December 5, recognises the role of volunteers across the globe in transforming their societies, economies and environment.
The annual event also seeks to inspire others to explore the mutual benefits of voluntary work on a personal, community and business level.
In recent years, commercial companies have become ever-more aware of their corporate social responsibility and the need to take account of their wider influence on society. As such, stakeholders are increasingly demanding that organisations demonstrate their commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.
Many businesses have introduced corporate volunteering programmes as part of this commitment, encouraging employees to take part in organised voluntary projects. These can prove valuable and pay huge dividends in terms of improved brand reputation and a more engaged, motivated workforce.
Building regular volunteering opportunities into your organisation’s culture brings a wide range of benefits. According to UK charity Volunteering Works, it brings enhanced brand reputation, better staff retention, positive recruitment uplift and clear commitment to your ESG priorities.
The charity has also found that some employers engage in projects which not only make a real difference to local communities but also support employees’ personal development in leadership, project management, communication skills and team building.
Feedback from volunteers has revealed that such initiatives also improve employees’ self-esteem and wellbeing, promoting positive feelings about their employer, colleagues and sense of belonging in the workplace.
At idverde, we have over a decade’s experience in delivering targeted, nature-based corporate volunteering programmes. Each year we provide around 50,000 volunteer hours, with participants undertaking a vast array of different tasks in their local communities.
A recent volunteer day we ran for a multi-national business involved employees recording biodiversity at the company’s main site and surrounding area. Despite being an un-landscaped trading estate surrounded by scrubland, volunteers discovered a wealth of wildlife species, from flowers and insects to birds and bats.
The project has enthused and inspired the team, prompting further volunteering activities and discussions on how our experience can help them enhance biodiversity at the site, at a time when the firm plans to expand its manufacturing and office facilities.
These sort of volunteering programmes demonstrate what can be done when we engage people with the incredible variety of nature on their doorstep. As well as proving how companies can go far ‘above and beyond’ in meeting their ESG commitments, they make a real difference to colleague teams, the local environment and the wider community.
