Employee Volunteering Guide: How CSR Heads Build Volunteering That Lasts
Five design rules from ten years of Earth5R programmes, India’s volunteering data, and ten best practices from companies in the Above Average band of TERRA, Earth5R’s ESG intelligence platform. Plus a model volunteering policy and a tracker you can download and adapt.
What the guide covers
- Why most volunteering days fade
- Employee volunteering by numbers
- Five design rules
- Case study: six years of Sundays on the Mula Mutha
- Case study: a beach morning done right
- Beyond the cleanup
- What leading companies report
- Ten best practices from the leaders
- A model volunteering policy
- Choosing a format: eight formats compared
- Ten steps to launch a programme
- A year-one plan
- Running the day
- Measuring, reporting and an indicator bank
- Questions people ask
- Checklist for CSR heads
Free templates
Employee Volunteering Policy (Word)
Ten sections with fill-in brackets: purpose, scope, approach, paid volunteering time, eligible activities, safety and conduct, measurement, recognition, roles and review.
Employee Volunteering Tracker (Excel)
A session log, a dashboard that calculates participation rate, hours per employee and repeat volunteers, a volunteer list and a day-of run sheet.
Employee volunteering in India by numbers
41% of Indians volunteered time in the past month, according to the CAF World Giving Index 2024. But among India’s 100 top companies, only 26% report how many employees volunteer, 22% offer volunteering time off and 16% have a formal volunteering policy. Median participation is 22%, against 33% at US companies, and the median is one volunteering hour per employee a year.
Five rules for volunteering that lasts
What leading companies report, and ten practices to copy
All four companies below sit in the Above Average band of TERRA. Of eight companies in that band we reviewed, only these four publish volunteering numbers.
| Company | Programme | Latest reported |
|---|---|---|
| Infosys | InfyCares platform; Gracious Giving | 84,975 employees, 2,62,000+ hours, 1,837 events, 1,65,000+ beneficiaries (FY2025-26) |
| Tata Steel | Tata Volunteering Weeks | 16,505 employees, 1,90,522 hours, 4.40 hours per capita, 454 social issues (FY2024-25); volunteer KPIs externally assured |
| Persistent Systems | Individual Social Responsibility | 9,577 volunteers, 11,507 hours, 31 events with clients (FY2024-25); four hours a year for CSR activities |
| HCLTech | Power of One | 7,739 employees, 33,229 hours in India (FY2024-25); CSR Councils in 25 countries |
- Run volunteering on one platform (Infosys)
- Point volunteers at the foundation’s priorities (Infosys, HCLTech, Hindustan Unilever)
- Protect time for it (Persistent Systems)
- Measure depth, not just headcount (Tata Steel)
- Get the numbers assured (Tata Steel)
- Create a volunteering season (Tata Volunteering Weeks)
- Let employees lead locally (HCLTech CSR Councils, Ashok Leyland’s volunteering policy)
- Offer skills, not only hands (HCLTech)
- Combine time and money (HCLTech, Persistent Systems)
- Volunteer with your clients (Persistent Systems)
A volunteering day run sheet
Cite or share this guide
CSR and HR teams, NGOs, universities and industry bodies are welcome to link to this page, add it to reading lists or training material, and embed the infographics. Please link to this page rather than the PDF, so readers always get the latest edition.
Questions
Is the Employee Volunteering Guide free?
Yes. The guide, the Employee Volunteering Policy (Word) and the Employee Volunteering Tracker (Excel) are free to download without a sign-up, and free to share or adapt with credit to Earth5R.
Does employee volunteering count as CSR spend in India?
No. MCA’s CSR FAQs (General Circular 14/2021, FAQ 3.18) say that involvement of employees in CSR projects cannot be monetised, while encouraging companies to involve employees in CSR activities. Money spent on an eligible Schedule VII project through a registered implementing agency can count; employee time cannot.
What is a good employee volunteering participation rate?
Median participation at India’s 100 top companies is 22% (India Welfare Trust, 2023). CECP’s Giving in Numbers 2025 reports an average of 25% among its mainly US companies. The guide shows how to raise it with a fixed rhythm, adopted sites and protected time.
How many Indian companies have a volunteering policy?
Only 16% of India’s 100 top companies have a formal volunteering policy, and 22% offer volunteering time off, according to India Welfare Trust (2023). The guide includes a model policy you can adapt.
How do you keep employees volunteering after the first event?
Adopt one site, fix a small recurring slot, give every volunteer a personal result such as kilograms collected, and report the numbers back every quarter. On the Mula Mutha in Pune, two hours every Sunday for six years removed 112 tonnes of waste.
Can I use the infographics on my website?
Yes. Each infographic on this page has embed code. Please keep the credit link to this page.
Does Earth5R run employee volunteering programmes?
Earth5R designs, runs and measures employee volunteering programmes with companies and partner NGOs across 144 Indian cities, with volunteer hours and impact logged on the Earth5R app. Talk to us through the contact page.
Download the Employee Volunteering GuidePlan a volunteering programme