They are not gaining personal fulfilment from their careers and want to get back to what is important. We should welcome the increasing awareness of the needs of others. We should also be challenged, by the reported increase in volunteers, to give more of our own time and talents in the service of Christ. This is an important question to answer, because in God's eyes a good action is one that is motivated by love for God, done in accordance with the law of God, and done to the glory of God. We must recognise that few volunteers think of such things.
Much voluntary work is done for selfish rather than selfless reasons.
Some of the yuppie volunteers in the VSO survey admitted that they did not feel that taking a break for a couple of years would harm their careers. It is a sad fact that much voluntary work is done for the benefit of the volunteer. Apparently Mother Teresa used to welcome the volunteers who wanted to help her to care for the sick and dying street people of Calcutta by telling them that they had come to work for their own benefit rather than that of the patients. In most cases, she was probably telling the truth. Many people think that a few good deeds will compensate for years of greed.