The lesson for business owners and managers who supervise workers 40 and under is: be prepared for this challenge from them -- "give me service opportunities, or I'll go somewhere where they do".

The Pause that Refreshes
Aside from the pressure to respond to worker expectations, there are even stronger reasons to go with this trend. There are a number of potential benefits of freely providing volunteer service opportunities, starting with morale.

Business owners and managers often view morale as a soft and squishy area, but it is an important factor in the success of organizations. Employees with high morale are more productive, call in sick less often, and are more committed to their companies. Research by the likes of Sears, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the UK's Institute of Employment Studies, and Hewitt Associates demonstrate the tangible benefits, with bottom-line implications, of improving employee morale.

Volunteerism fits into the morale puzzle with what I call the "halo effect". Employees feel good about their company doing good. They take pride in being associated with a good corporate citizen and are more willing to sacrifice for it. No one wants to take one for the team when the company behaves like a scoundrel, but a company that demonstrates that it cares about more than profits builds a tremendous amount of good will capital that can be tapped for productivity gains.

One study commissioned by the Council on Foundations found that employees who perceive their companies as high on the community involvement scale are four-times more likely to remain committed to the organization than those who are low on the scale. If the cost of replacing a worker is roughly equivalent to that person's annual salary, more if that person is a manager, it puts the community investment tally into perspective quickly.

The effect is further enhanced when employees are actively engaged in "doing good" through volunteerism. A sense of pride actually becomes more of a sense of ownership. In the role of ambassadors, they feel like owners, even more so when their values are reflected back to them in the form of policies that support and encourage volunteering. And, an owner mentality is tops when it comes to worker attitudes.

The lesson for managers is that employees who leave to volunteer return refreshed, re-energized, and recommitted to the company and its work. That is fruit better picked than left to fall and rot on the ground.