ATLANTA, GA — The HandsOn Network has revised its standards for reporting on employee volunteer programs to better help companies determine the return on investment and impacts of their volunteer programs.

The new 2010 Employee Volunteer Reporting Standards include additional reporting elements that define standards for data collection and documentation, as well as help evaluate programs, measure impact assessment and set performance benchmarks. New metrics also help measure the value of volunteer hours, dollar rate of straight ROI and dollar rate of social return.

Originally created in 2006, the standards were created out of a growing needs for standards that companies could use to measure, report on and set performance benchmarks for employee volunteer programs.

"Standardized metrics are very important, both in making certain the employee volunteer is getting what they want from the experience, and for gaining buy-in from senior management," said Paul Bueker, executive director of GE Volunteers Foundation, said in a statement. "Most importantly though, we want to be able to measure the impact on the communities that we serve."

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