The NVC will promote volunteerism as a way of life across all sectors and at all levels of society. It will try to entrench volunteerism in Singapore. One significant contribution the NVC can make is to encourage and help organisations to manage volunteers well. Volunteers, just like employees, need to be properly inducted, trained, and recognised for what they do. In the long run, with better management, organisations will be able to attract more volunteers.
Companies can play a significant part in making it possible for working adults to do volunteer work.
Not surprisingly, working adults, faced with many demands on their time and energy, are under-represented among Singapore volunteers. Given that the average Singaporean will spend some 30 to 40 years working, the workplace is a major influence on his or her attitudes towards issues such as volunteerism. I would like to encourage more companies to set up corporate community involvement programmes. They should follow the example of Ngee Ann Polytechnic which allocates time to staff to involve themselves and their families in community projects. BP, HSBC, Lucent Technologies, United Parcels, SIA, DBS, JTC, HDB and ITE are other examples of organisations that are engaged in corporate volunteering.