Policy

Colorado College believes that employee volunteering contributes to engagement and development as it helps to support our community.  There are various ways that staff may use their time to support others outside of their typical work responsibilities.

Community Volunteering

As part of CC’s commitment to making a difference in our community where we work and live, benefits-eligible staff members may be granted up to four days (32 hours) of paid time to volunteer in the community each year. These hours must occur during your regularly scheduled shift and should not lead to overtime during that period. Scheduling of time for volunteering is subject to the college's operational needs as determined by the supervisor.

Staff members may use volunteering time to support not-for-profit organizations, programs, and other community engagement activities. Examples of this kind of service include volunteering at a local school, restoring natural areas, or enhancing community health and well-being. Other kinds of volunteer opportunities may include external board memberships, audit services, event management or grant writing for external organizations. Staff are encouraged to discuss with their supervisor how these volunteer opportunities align with their developmental goals as a part of the approval process.

To maintain our not-for-profit status, employees cannot use CC volunteer hours for partisan activity or to support a specific candidate. However, employees may use their own time for such activities.

These activities would not be covered under our workers compensation policies. CC would not be responsible for any expenses associated with community volunteering events. All applicable hours should be tracked using the volunteer pay code.

Staff Volunteering for CC

Community volunteering could also occur at CC. In these situations, the CC staff person should be treated similarly to any other (non-employee) volunteer. In addition, they should meet the following criteria to ensure compliance with labor laws:

1. Supervisor must approve any schedule changes required to fulfill the volunteer request.
2. Responsibilities of the volunteer activity must be different than the employee’s typical function.
3. Tasks may not be those that would typically be done by a paid position at CC (e.g. covering for another employee).
4. Volunteering can’t be required of the employee or be formally or informally incentivized.
5. Volunteer activities at CC cannot be considered in performance discussions (either as a positive, or area for improvement).

These activities would not be covered under our workers’ compensation policies.

Interdepartmental Support

Supporting campus events or activities outside of your core role at the college can contribute to being engaged in the CC community. It can provide a valuable opportunity to develop new knowledge or skills as well as learn about the work of different areas of the college. Sometimes people will informally ask for “volunteers” to help with this type of work, but it is distinct from the volunteering discussed above because external volunteers would not be asked to support these needs. Staff typically should receive compensation for this work.

Example events may include:

• Commencement
• Llamapalooza
• New Student Orientation
• Homecoming & Family Weekend
• Admissions Open Houses
• Convocation

For events during your regular work schedule, participation would be in place of performing your regular responsibilities. In this situation, staff members must receive supervisor approval to ensure the operational needs of the individual’s teams can be met during the staff member’s absence.

Some events or activities will occur outside a staff member’s typical working hours. Departments may mandate coverage of these events as part of the staff member’s work expectations. In these cases, the staff member must be paid as with any other assigned work.  Hourly individuals would be paid for all hours worked.  Salaried individuals may work with their supervisors to determine how to balance their workload to accomplish these expectations.

If supporting an event or activity isn’t part of the staff member’s work expectations, and if the staff member is interested in supporting one of these events or activities, they are encouraged to work with their supervisor to schedule flex time to allow them to support the event without creating overtime or undue burden on salaried individuals. Flex time is time away from the employee’s core role during the workday replaced by time working at the off-hours event.  Please note that hours need to be flexed during the same workweek (Sun-Sat) and these activities should not lead to overtime without prior approval.

Individuals are only eligible to support requests for interdepartmental needs if they are in good standing in their current role. Interdepartmental support activities may be considered in performance conversations. Individuals should only perform tasks they are comfortable with and should not involve specialized technical training. Any accidents, injuries and other covered incidents that occur while supporting campus events and activities would be covered by our worker’s compensation insurance.

Resources

• The Collaborative for Community Engagement It has many resources to connect you to individual, team building, and skills-based volunteer opportunities.
  • Review our list of community partners and High Impact Partners
  • Review our list of open volunteer opportunities
  • Contact the CCE’s Community Partnerships Coordinator to discuss your interest in engaging in Colorado Springs and explore connections.

Procedures

Staff wishing to participate in any of the activities above must submit a written or emailed request to their supervisors before the event with enough time to approve the request and implement coverage plans. Supervisors may deny leave requests due to departmental workload, or for other operational needs.

Community volunteer hours must be recorded on the employee's time sheet or leave report using the volunteer pay code as part of the standard submission and approval process.

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