Around 50% of children start school without the speaking and listening skills necessary to learn or even to make friends.
In the short-term this is a problem for schools and the children themselves. But, ultimately, low levels of verbal communication skills are an issue for UK society as a whole, for employers, for the economy and for communities. Research in prisons, for example, has proved that many of the inmates see their inability to express emotions as a major reason for committing crime.
This lack of speaking and listening skills among children is a fundamental social problem that the Government is trying to address through policy. This year's Bercow Review, for example, highlighted the role of communication as the "essential life skill" which underpins a child's social, emotional and educational development, and has recommended the need to raise the profile of the issue by creating a National Year of Speech, Language and Communication, led by an appointed communication champion.
At the same time, staff at BT have been doing their own thing by working in schools. Through the Better World Campaign individual employees have been helping make children's communication skills a national priority, with around 3,000 employees delivering sessions on verbal communications.
Volunteers come from all levels of the organisation, including senior managers. All are given support in the form of a local club which arranges an introduction with a school and social gatherings to share experiences and the best approaches.
A huge amount of time and energy is invested by staff which, it could be argued, should all be channelled into the needs of the business. It's obviously worthy, but does volunteering really help anyone, or will it always be a token activity?
Our experience has shown that when staff get the chance to use their skills outside of the workplace, it is both a stretch for them and a good way of building their own confidence. Volunteering is actually one of the best means of developing and motivating staff. This is especially true in schools where the response to sessions is immediate and volunteers get to see a direct pay-off from the impact of their work all around them. In a typical session the work in schools involves practice with presentation skills, management, organisation, negotiation and communications in general.
Volunteering provides a new dimension to what people can get out of their working life. Employees expect a lot from their careers - not just rewards, but personal development, a range of new and ever-changing challenges, as well as a social network. The pressures and demands of business mean workplaces can't be everything to everyone. But volunteering offers a way for people to gain additional recognition for their contribution to the firm, and a sense of being involved with a whole new set of networks among colleagues and those outside of the company.
More people would volunteer their time and do something for their community if they had their employer behind them. Employers have a real opportunity here to be part of a win-win situation: development, fulfilment and a more engaged community of people working on behalf of the business. An element of encouragement, organisation and support for what they're doing is all it takes to turn a vague inclination for community work into activity.
While projects by one company, in a single community or on an individual issue are unlikely to produce a transformation of complex social problems - a national network of volunteers could.
- See volunteering special page 28
