Corporate volunteering: stepping away from the desk for a good cause

Even people who love their jobs don’t mind taking a real break from their daily work routine. The most obvious option: a day off to relax. But what if that day also benefits the team, recharges everyone’s energy—and does some good in the process? That’s exactly what corporate volunteering is all about.

What is corporate volunteering?

Corporate volunteering refers to the charitable involvement of companies and their employees. In doing so, they devote their time and skills to a charitable organisation or a social cause, either as a team or on an individual basis.

This could be a group afternoon spent cleaning up a park, a pro bono consultation for a nonprofit organization, or individual volunteer work in a wide variety of areas. Depending on the company and its objectives, there are different formats for this. We’ll explain what those are below.

5 reasons why corporate volunteering is worth it

1. Discover new skills

When people step outside their usual work environment, they often discover sides of themselves that don’t come to the fore in everyday office life. Whether it’s manual dexterity, creativity, or communicating on an equal footing with strangers, corporate volunteering creates opportunities for experiences that pay off in the long run, even in the workplace.

2. A fresh perspective on everyday work life

Taking a step back helps. When you step off the treadmill for a while, you often come back with fresh ideas. Volunteering—especially in a field unrelated to your day job—can provide exactly this kind of reset and foster creativity and problem-solving skills.

3. Strengthen team cohesion

Working together outside the usual hierarchies and routines: That brings people together. Teams that have participated in a Social Day together often report a noticeably better sense of camaraderie afterward. When you make sandwiches or plant garden beds together, you get to know your coworkers from a different perspective.

4. Employee retention and employer branding

Employees want to work for companies that take social responsibility seriously. According to a 2024 Deloitte survey, 95% of office workers consider it important for their employer to make a positive contribution to society, and 87% say that volunteer programs are a factor in their decision to stay with their current employer or change jobs.

A credible CV program strengthens employee loyalty to the company and makes it more attractive to new talent.

5. Social engagement keeps you healthy

People who volunteer are more likely to rate their work-life balance positively and are less likely to report feeling exhausted. Those who feel they are truly making a difference with their time come home from work feeling different, and that has a positive impact on their everyday lives.

What types of corporate volunteering programs are there?

Social Days / social team events

Social Day is the best-known format: A team leaves the office together and spends a day volunteering at a nonprofit organization or on a community project. The tasks are usually hands-on: renovating, planting, packing, cooking, or providing support.

It’s important to note that a well-organized Social Day is tailored to the actual needs of the organization being supported. This creates a true win-win situation.

Typical Social Day activities:

• Job application training for refugees
• Preparing meals for the homeless shelter
• Building raised veds at a youth club
• Clean-up events in parks or neighborhoods
• Packing care packages for people in need

Social Days are particularly effective for groups of 10–20 people. For larger teams—including those spread across multiple locations—it’s also possible to coordinate multiple activities simultaneously.

You can find instructions on how to organize your own Social Day in our post: How to Plan a Successful Social Day.

Pro bono work

Through pro bono work, employees contribute their specialized expertise in specific areas such as:

• Marketing consulting
• Legal support
• Web development
• Financial planning
• Design

Nonprofit organizations benefit from expertise they otherwise could not afford.

For more information on why pro bono work is so important for nonprofit organizations, check out our related article: Pro Bono Volunteering: What to Expect.

Individual volunteering

Not all employees are willing or able to participate in a specific volunteer day. For this reason, many companies offer their employees the opportunity to engage in volunteer work tailored to their own interests during work hours.

A volunteer management tool like the one from vostel.de provides companies with a customized platform for this purpose: featuring selected projects from the nonprofit network, a dashboard for employees, and a reporting feature for the company’s website.

This gives employees the freedom to shape their volunteer work on their own terms.

In action: corporate volunteering at Delivery Hero

The collaboration between vostel.de and Delivery Hero demonstrates just how diverse Social Days can be. Over the past few years, employees of the Berlin-based company have participated in a wide variety of initiatives, including:

• Made sandwiches and prepared meals for homeless people
• Cleanup campaigns carried out in Berlin neighborhoods
• Tree pits were planted, creating green oases in the cityscape
• Care kits packed for people facing difficult circumstances

What these initiatives have in common is that they are concrete, can be planned on short notice, and have a visible impact on the city, the recipients, and the team.

Why more and more companies are turning to corporate volunteering

Corporate volunteering has long been firmly established in German companies: According to the 2025 Corporate Engagement Monitor (ZiviZ at the Stifterverband, n=4,431), 63% of all companies allow their employees time off for charitable activities—and among large companies with 250 or more employees, the figure is as high as 83%. Corporate volunteering is thus a central component of modern corporate social responsibility—and a genuine competitive advantage in the battle for talent.

The added value arises on three levels simultaneously: The organization receiving support gains vital assistance. The company lives up to its values both internally and externally. And employees feel that their time matters, even beyond quarterly goals.

Implement corporate volunteering with vostel.de

Since 2015, we have been helping companies design effective corporate volunteering programs, from the initial idea through to evaluation. With over 2,300 nonprofit organizations in Germany and more than 12,000 volunteer opportunities, we find the right program for every company.

Frequently asked questions about corporate volunteering