Seeking engagement and purpose, corporate employees turn to workplace volunteering

NEW YORK (AP) — Michelle Barbin's job does not always fill her bucket. Yes, she likes her nine-to-five helping improve consumer experiences at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. She emphasizes she wouldn't have spent nearly 19 years working for the health insurance provider otherwise.

But her “empathetic heart” gets true satisfaction from the company's opportunities to apply professional skills toward resource-strapped nonprofits. Routine work — managing projects or organizing slideshows — feels more fulfilling when it involves, say, a new marketing campaign for a Pittsburgh children's health group.

She's reaped developmental benefits, too; she credits her leadership on a day of service for helping convince her current boss to hire her onto a new team.

“This is a huge part of why I stay,” Barbin said.

Employees increasingly find that robust workplace volunteer programs meet their desires for in-person connections, professional growth and altruistically inclined employers — career objectives that might be missing in conventional corporate atmospheres. The surge in interest coming out of the pandemic-era shutdowns that forced many Americans to reevaluate their commitments to their communities led to more corporate partners, volunteer hours and active participants in 2023 than ever before, according to Benevity, a platform that helps companies manage such programs.

More than 60% of respondents reported increased participation last year in employee volunteer activities, according to an Association of Corporate...