Communities across Australia will benefit from $50 million of value with NAB today committing to reach one million volunteering hours through its employee volunteering program by 2018.

NAB employees will lend their banking, human resource, marketing, accounting and other business skills to help a wide range of community organisations across Australia.

NAB manages what is widely recognised as a leading corporate volunteering program in Australia with employees receiving a minimum of 16 hours paid volunteering leave each year.

The announcement coincides with National Volunteer Week that is being celebrated across Australia from 12 to 18 May.

Michaela Healey, NAB Group Executive People, Communications and Governance said that providing volunteering opportunities for employees makes good business sense.

“Our employees are increasingly looking for meaningful volunteering opportunities where they can leverage their own skills and experience to help organisations drive social outcomes.

“Our survey data confirms that our NAB employees who volunteer are more engaged and this enhances their productivity and customer interactions.”

In 2013 NAB employees volunteered 18,127 days, the equivalent of $7.4 million value.

The benefits are not just realised by community organisations. A recent study by the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (1) also found strong links between employee participation in corporate responsibility activities such as volunteering, and employee engagement.

NAB employees can choose to donate their skills to community organisations and last year, skilled volunteering was up 25%.

In addition to skilled volunteering, last year NAB employees:

• prepared more than 57,000 meals for the disadvantaged
• contributed to the care of more than 7,000 sick or injured animals
• planted more than 10,000 native plants and trees

This is the second mission NAB has made as part of its Wealth of Opportunity program. It has also joined with Good Shepherd Microfinance to improve financial inclusion for one million people on low incomes by 2018.

(1) MGSM – ‘Corporate Volunteering: Connecting People, Participation & Performance, October 2013