APPLICABILITY
Indicator metrics apply to all employees (see definition in General Clarifications). For organizations pursuing Level 2 and above, paid volunteer time must be provided on a prorated basis to part-time employees who work at least 20 hours per week.
ELIGIBLE VOLUNTEER SERVICE
For the Just program, volunteering is defined as a service to recognized charitable, nonprofit, faith-based, or educational institutions (see additional information in the Pro Bono Services clarification below). For the purposes of this Indicator, volunteer service to a faith-based institution must be for nonsectarian programs that are not based on religious affiliation.
ORGANIZATION-SPONSORED VOLUNTEERING EFFORTS
For Levels 2 to 4, the maximum thresholds met by organization-sponsored volunteer efforts by level are:
- Level 2: Up to two hours.
- Level 3: Up to four hours.
- Level 4: Up to eight hours.
PRO BONO SERVICES
Hours providing pro bono services on behalf of the organization may be counted toward the metric thresholds provided the following criteria are met:
- The hours are in service only to legally recognized charitable, nonprofit, faith-based, or educational institutions.
- An employee’s decision to participate in the pro bono work must be completely voluntary and should not lead to either preferential or discriminatory treatment. This condition must be communicated clearly in the volunteer policy or description of the pro bono opportunity.
Additionally, pro bono services may be accounted for as either volunteering hours in this Indicator or in-kind service contributions in the Charitable Giving Indicator, but not both.
VOLUNTEERING PHILOSOPHY
Organizations are expected to create a culture that encourages and supports volunteering regardless of employee identity and position. Organizations pursuing Level 2 or above must track the overall volunteer hours used by employees in order to understand whether additional efforts to educate and encourage employees to use their volunteer hours are needed or if there are other barriers that could be mitigated.
VOLUNTEERING POLICY
If an organization with part-time employees is pursuing Level 2 or above, the Volunteering policy must specify that paid volunteer time is accessible regardless of employee type (i.e., full-time or part-time).
