HBOS Colleague Volunteering

Along with the financial help of the HBOS Foundation, local communities can also benefit from the time, energy and enthusiasm of HBOS plc colleagues. HBOS plc colleagues have the skills and commitment to make a huge contribution as volunteers, whether they have half a day to give or an hour a week.

Our volunteering theme in 2008 is empowering local communities. During the year colleagues are being encouraged to give their time to activities that will improve the skills of those working with charities and community groups. This might be through the mentoring of charity managers and head teachers, or running workshops for young people on employability skills. Colleagues get involved with volunteering either as individuals or as part of a team.

In 2007 over 10,000 HBOS colleagues registered their volunteering with the Foundation, and our colleagues gave almost 300,000 volunteering hours to UK charities and community groups.

Support for HBOS plc colleagues is a key contributor to the success of HBOS Volunteering. HBOS plc colleagues who regularly volunteer in their own time are eligible to apply for an award of up to £250 from the HBOS Foundation for the organisation they volunteer with. They can also have their own personal time given, matched by HBOS plc up to a maximum of one day per year for further volunteering activities.

HBOS plc colleagues taking part in team challenge volunteering activities are also entitled to apply for up to £250 per project to cover the costs of the materials or equipment used at the challenge, such as paint, plants, paint brushes etc.

Many HBOS plc colleagues start off giving time because they want to make a positive impact on their community and find that in doing so they themselves benefit enormously.

Bankers answer the call for Comic Relief

Over 500 contact centre workers from Halifax and Bank of Scotland call centres across the UK gave up their Friday evening to answer telephone calls from people donating money to Comic Relief.

The volunteers gave their time and professional skills between 6.00pm on the Friday through until 2.00am on the Saturday to support Red Nose Day by processing public pledges by telephone at contact centres in Leeds, Dunfermline and Motherwell. Over 250 phone lines were given over especially for Comic Relief on the night.

A Team leader at one of the two Leeds call centres taking part said: “People are always keen to give money to good causes but we’re delighted the workers here at Halifax and Bank of Scotland can also make a real difference by donating their time and skills to handle as many pledges as possible from the public. We’re serious about supporting Comic Relief but rest assured we’ll have plenty of fun on Friday too”

HBOS encourages colleagues to get involved in their local communities and charity work by offering volunteers the support and time off work to do even more for their favourite good causes. In 2007, over 10,000 HBOS volunteers have stepped forward to support charities and community groups actors the UK.

Elsewhere across HBOS colleagues were getting into the spirit of Red Nose Day by raising money in all sorts of ways for Comic Relief. Those raising money were also able to apply to get what they raised matched by the HBOS Foundation under its Matched Funding scheme.