Volunteering is a great way for organisations to allow their employees to give back to their local communities, supporting projects or causes that may be close to their hearts.
Not only is it a chance to offer a helping hand, volunteering can also be great for team building, allowing team members to get to know one another in an external environment, working as a team for a good cause. What’s more, volunteering is often a key component of an organisation’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. However, before an employer introduces volunteering as an option for their employees, it is important that they consider a few things.
Legal considerations
What happens if an employee misbehaves when volunteering?
If an employee’s behaviour is not what it should be in the workplace, the employer will typically have policies and procedures in place to deal with these issues. However, what happens if an employee behaves poorly when volunteering externally? If an employee is volunteering as part of an employer-supported scheme, it is likely that they will be acting in the course of employment during their volunteering activity, so not only might the employer be vicariously liable for the employee’s acts during the time spent volunteering, but at the same time, the employee’s behaviour should be judged against the employer’s usual workplace rules.
What happens if an employee is mistreated while they are volunteering?
When volunteering externally, employees are likely to be working alongside people employed by the host organisation or by other volunteers. Although volunteering will typically only be for a few days, issues may still arise where volunteers are mistreated by other volunteers or those employed at the host organisation.
Where the mistreatment is conduct that amounts to harassment as defined in the Equality Act 2010, the employer may be able to pursue a claim of discrimination or constructive unfair dismissal.
Whilst currently an employer cannot be liable specifically for third-party harassment, if the mistreatment amounts to ‘sexual harassment’, then the employer could potentially also face liability for that third-party harassment if it’s established that they have failed to protect that employee from the harassment. This would be in the form of enforcement action or an uplift in compensation for other successful discrimination claims.
The employer should, as a minimum:
- satisfy itself that the host organisation has robust policies in place dealing with behaviour while on site, straightforward complaints mechanisms and other safeguards to monitor the conduct of volunteers, including the right to remove anyone whose behaviour has been called into question;
- that the host organisation also has staff who are trained to spot and tackle inappropriate conduct; and
- provide training for all employees about the organisation’s own policies and those of the host organisation about conduct in the workplace and raising complaints.
Furthermore, in October 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 will reintroduce employer liability for third-party harassment in relation to all protected characteristics. When this change is introduced, employers will need to take even more care to ensure that employees are not exposed to unacceptable treatment while they are taking part in any volunteering activity.