MORE businesses are being encouraged to back the voluntary sector, enabling staff to engage in the community both during and after work hours.

This year, for the first time, several county businesses are backing the Kent Volunteers Awards for volunteering excellence.

Organised by KCC, and now in their third year, the awards recognise the work carried out by thousands of volunteers across Kent.

The sponsors include Barclays, the Marlowe Theatre, Pfizer, Saga Group Ltd, Eurotunnel, the Environment Agency and Kent Business publishers, the Kent Messenger Group.

Peter Lapham, community liaison manager at Folkestone-based Saga said: "The company encourages individuals and groups of staff to engage in community activities directly organised or sponsored by Saga.

"It also promotes involvement by staff at all levels in community groups, school governorships, charitable trusteeships and advisory groups.

"In some cases individuals are able to bring professional or management expertise where they are most needed, and in others individuals are able themselves to benefit from experience 'outside the box' and develop a wider understanding of issues which can, in return, help in their professional environment. Volunteering is not without its rewards!"

Saga Group supports the community through sponsorship of the visual and performing arts, sports, schools and other educational establishments, special events and projects, and through financial and in-kind support for a wide variety of selected charitable and community organisations.

Barclays - also sponsoring the Kent Volunteers Awards - actively encourages staff to give up their time and skills for the local community.

Barclays offers three innovative schemes to support staff community involvement including a £ for £ matching scheme, which matches staff fundraising, an employee volunteering scheme for groups of staff and an hour for hour scheme, which matches bank time with personal time volunteered.

Barclays' regional community manager, Debbie Phillips explains: "The community programme links in with Barclays' business objectives and provides an excellent way for them to put something back into the local community as well as a fantastic opportunity for staff to develop and enhance personal skills."

The Kent Business Team spent a weekend at Demelza House, a children's hospice in Sittingbourne planting daffodil bulbs on the grass banks throughout the grounds.

Melanie Bean a member of the local business team said: "Everyone involved had a really great time. We managed to bring together different parts of the local business that wouldn't normally get the chance to work together. After the event there was a real change at the office, there was much more of a team atmosphere."

Stewart Lockie, area retail manager for Kent explains his reasons for encouraging his team to get involved with their local communities: "My passion and aim is to deliver a world class customer experience and to make each visit to Barclays a memorable one.

"Maintaining close links with the community assists me and my business in two ways - it helps us all fully understand our customer base and the issues that they are facing and through the community programme we are in the fortunate position of being able to do something about those issues".

Anne Denby, contributions manager at Sandwich-based Pfizer said: "We are very pleased to sponsor the Kent Volunteer Awards because we recognise the enormous contribution that individual volunteers make to so many organisations across the county, supporting activities varying from healthcare to tourism.

"We support volunteering through funding for specific projects with local

branches of groups such as the British Red Cross and the Volunteer Bureaux,

but we also encourage our staff to share their time and expertise.

"We have a number of mentors and school governors among our staff, for example, who receive support from the Company and are able to undertake much of their volunteer activity in work time.

"We also hold an annual event to promote volunteering to staff due to retire,

many of whom are amazed by the variety and flexibility of voluntary work.

"We encourage them to see volunteering as an opportunity to try something new

and meet people, not as a threat to their valuable free time."

Anne Leva of Eurotunnel hopes to encourage more staff to become volunteers through backing this year's awards.

"By using the existing expertise and contributions of its employees in a range of community actions, Eurotunnel believes this develops the skills of its workforce," she says.

"Eurotunnel's own actions should help reinforce its staff's own role within their local community and provide evidence to them of the company's "good citizenship."

Numerous staff among Eurotunnel's 1,700 UK-based workforce are volunteers - from school governors to junior football coaching, Territorial Army to charity fund-raisers, PTA members and parish councillors.

Eurotunnel actively encourages staff to become school mentors and both the company and individual employees have won Shepway Education Business Partnership mentoring prizes over the years.

*Posters and nomination forms for this year's awards are available in libraries, schools, council offices, volunteer bureaux, adult education centres and other public places.

Forms are also available from the Events Office, Kent County Council, Sessions House, County Hall, Maidstone ME14 1XQ. Closing date for entries is September 20.

Everyone who is nominated will receive a certificate and winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony in Ashford on December 1.