Introduction to VSO Business Associates
VSO Business Associates (VBA) is a membership scheme for companies wanting to offer employees direct access to inspiring, skill-building secondment opportunities with VSO.
It offers corporate social responsibility advantages by providing employees with an opportunity to make a difference to the world, within a company’s HR framework. Employees can volunteer to share their professional expertise through VSO placements across the world, supporting some of the most disadvantaged communities. Additionally, membership of VBA raises vital funds for VSO's international development work.
Why join?
Recruiting and retaining the best employees is a challenge faced by many of the UK’s top employers. Beyond salary and standard benefits, graduates and prospective employees are looking for a distinction that sets a company apart. Increasingly, graduates and employees look to a company’s ethical and corporate responsibility practices as well as flexible HR policies, including exciting and outstanding development opportunities, to differentiate. Becoming a VSO Business Associate can help give companies an added advantage. It provides employees with a valuable development opportunity, and serves to enrich a company’s workforce through international skill sharing experiences.
How it works
VSO Business Associates pay an annual membership fee of £10,000. VSO provides each Business Associate with a secure, bespoke micro site accessed by company login. Membership triggers a supply of marketing tools to promote company membership and employee volunteering opportunities to staff, as well as inspiring communication from VSO about our programmes.
Make a difference
“We often say that people are the key to competitiveness. But it’s much harder to find ways to offer employees in-depth, hands-on experience of business practice in emerging markets. VSO’s volunteer placements deliver exactly that.”
DIGBY, LORD JONES OF BIRMINGHAM, MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INVESTMENT