Volunteering gets a firm boost 

By Tamar Satov
Illustration: Cathy Pentland

In September, KPMG technical project manager Ishani Ramalingam hopes to complete the most important assignment she has ever overseen — opening a school for orphaned and poor children in Barahona, Dominican Republic.

And while the three-year project is one the Torontonian took on with her church, she couldn’t have done it without her employer’s help, she says. “Every time I need time off they’ve been very supportive,” says Ramalingam, who in addition to her vacation time took a two-month unpaid sabbatical to go to Barahona last summer. “My manager helped me plan ahead so that my projects ended before I left and nothing was outstanding.”

Ramalingam is one of many employees at Canada’s large accounting firms taking advantage of volunteer-friendly policies, such as unpaid leaves and flexible work hours. Some firms, including KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, even make donations or grants to organizations to which workers donate at least 50 hours of time annually, and implement other programs to foster volunteerism.

“The firm very much encourages people to volunteer,” says Tahir Ayub, partner at PwC in Vancouver, who spent six weeks in Namibia in 2003 helping community leaders deal with the AIDS crisis. The project was part of the firm’s Ulysses Leadership Program, which sends participants to developing countries to share knowledge and experience with nonprofit organizations, while expanding their own skills.

“It was a fantastic opportunity,” says Ayub, adding that the firm’s other partners looked after his clients while he was away. “We developed a model for community-based AIDS projects, which has now been shared with other African nations.”

Of course, CA firms also support volunteer activities closer to home. For example, staff donated 15,000 person hours during last year’s KPMG Volunteers week, in which the firm encouraged its staff across the country to donate one day of work time to local charities as a team. Similarly, PwC is developing a Team Volunteering Program this year to give staff a day off work to volunteer.