Volunteer time off

Volunteering is an integral part of civic life in America. In fact, more and more millennials seek employment opportunities that allow him or her to actively participate within the community. This type of participation is beyond merely providing monetary assistance to charities. Rather, it involves the time and skill necessary to make a change within one's community.

Although ON Semiconductor does not currently have a volunteer time off policy enabling employees to volunteer during the work week and get paid for doing so, the company does have several employees who are active within their local communities. In fact, employees at the Phoenix site regularly volunteer at St. Mary's Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity in order to address basic human needs.

In order to encourage greater volunteerism within the workplace, I have been developing a volunteer time off policy that would be available to all employees globally. The volunteer time off policy would enable employees to volunteer one work day (as the hours constituting one work day may differ between employees in different positions and in different countries) at a charity of their liking while still getting paid. When creating this policy, however, it has been important to determine which activities truly constitute volunteerism and which organizations are considered eligible. For instance, providing free ski lessons while on a ski holiday yourself would not constitute a volunteer activity. Similarly, nor would attending your child PTA. In contrast, tutoring underprivileged children in STEM related topics or engaging in homelessness outreach would.

By creating a robust volunteer time off policy, I aim to ultimately boost employee morale, attract newer talent into the organization, provide existing employees the convenience necessary to volunteer, and enhance ON Semiconductor's corporate social responsibility program.