Community of Caring

"It is…an American tradition that we meet our challenges as members of a true community, with all of us working together," President Bill Clinton wrote 10 years ago this week. "As the nation's largest employer, the federal government has a responsibility to set an example by helping to make it possible for its employees to dedicate time to serve others."

At the time, Clinton asked agencies to explore what they could do to be more flexible when employees needed time to do volunteer work, and asked the Office of Personnel Management to help clarify and spread the word about policies that could facilitate community service.

This week, Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., with the support of two of the federal government's largest unions, said simple flexibilities are no longer enough and private companies have moved ahead of government in allowing employees time to volunteer. Moran has introduced a bill that would allow federal employees to use as many as two days of sick leave each year to volunteer for an organization that is part of the Combined Federal Campaign, or is approved by OPM.

Moran's legislation would add to the flexibilities that OPM promulgated in 1998 in response to Clinton's memorandum. Federal union members can make use of alternate work schedules negotiated by their unions to do volunteer work, and can dedicate credit hours (worked after the 80 hours required in each pay period) to community service. Agencies can authorize annual leave and leave without pay for employees to do volunteer work, especially if it contributes to an employee's professional development.

But all those flexibilities are subject to agency approval. OPM and presidents Clinton and Bush have urged agencies to be flexible, but none of the regulations guarantees the right to time off for volunteer work.

In contrast, when Moran announced his legislation, he cited a report by the professional association Business for Social Responsibility that said by 2003, 40 percent of medium and large companies had policies that allowed their employees paid time off to perform volunteer work.

It's easy for discussions about volunteerism to get lost or pushed aside in the clamor about attracting young people to federal service. According to a 2006 study by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, 36 percent of Americans between the ages of 15 to 25, and 43 percent of college students, had volunteered in the previous year.

That desire to meet community needs might spring from some of the same impulses that cause young people to consider careers in public service, but it also could require different outlets. Some federal employees volunteer as an extension of their work, like those at the Internal Revenue Service who help low-income tax payers file their federal returns. But others find satisfaction in a wide range of pursuits, such as working on cutting-edge research in a National Institutes of Health lab as well as helping illiterate adults learn to read.

After all, people in both the public and the private sector know that one kind of service is never enough to meet all the needs of any given community. Stores that move into a blighted neighborhood provides jobs, but residents of that neighborhood might still need after-school programs, AIDS education or a food bank. Federal programs provide the food stamps that allow residents to shop at those new stores, but employees of those programs also might want to beautify their streets, help educate their children and serve food to their neediest neighbors.

"It's a win for our civil servants because volunteerism brings both emotional and career development benefits," Moran said in a statement introducing the bill. "And it's a win for our society at large, as we help lift up people in need through community service."