Employee Volunteering

Helping our employees make a difference through volunteering

At NFU Mutual we have an employee volunteering programme that enables all of our employees to take time off work to support a good cause in their community. We provide a time off allowance of one day each year for employees to take part in the scheme as part of a team, and we offer advice and support to help our employees find the right volunteering opportunity.

Employee volunteering supports our ambitions, as a responsible business, to protect rural lives and livelihoods and create healthy communities for our people. Through the scheme, our employees can experience an enjoyable and rewarding teambuilding day with their colleagues, where they can learn something new, meet different people, and make a difference for a good cause.

During the whole of 2024, 794 NFU Mutual employees (17% of all employees*) dedicated 5,460 of their work hours to support community causes through our employee volunteering programme. That’s a record year for our volunteering programme – the highest number of hours colleagues have volunteered through the programme in any year, since our volunteering programme started in 2014.

From supporting food banks, hospices, schools, and community forests - to name but a few – our employees’ time has made a huge difference to a wide range of good causes throughout the country. We give huge thanks to our people for their fantastic efforts.

In 2025 we’re seeking feedback from community organisations and our employees to help us develop the scheme for the future. 

How our volunteering support is helping

As well as offering practical help to charities through activities such as tree planting, we also look for opportunities where our people can volunteer their professional expertise, such as giving careers support to local sixth form students. 

In October 2024, our CEO Office PA team volunteered at Wildgoose Rural Training, a care farm for adults and young people based in the heart of Worcestershire.

The main task for the team’s volunteering day was to clear willow saplings from the reed beds on the charity’s nature reserve. This was no small feat, as it required a lot of hard work and teamwork. The goal was to encourage a different environment for nature and biodiversity, and the team were thrilled to see the significant area they managed to clear by the end of the day.

After completing their work, they were fortunate to spend some time with the farm's animals, meeting pigs, goats, sheep, alpacas, and Bernard the turkey, each with their own charming personalities.

It was a really rewarding day for our employees taking part, and they commented: “It was inspiring to see the dedication and care that goes into making Wildgoose a special place for its students. We had the pleasure of meeting many of the students, whose enthusiasm and joy were truly contagious. Volunteering at Wildgoose Rural Training was a memorable and fulfilling experience for our team. We left with a greater appreciation for the work being done there and a sense of pride in the contribution we made.”  

Find out more

Supporting our communities is just one of the ways we deliver against our ambition of Protecting Rural Lives and Livelihoods. To learn more about our strategy and actions, explore our latest Responsible Business Report.

*based on NFU Mutual’s employee head count figure at 6 January 2025