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Community Challenge

Community Challenge

Community Challenge and volunteering

Our Community Challange programme gives staff the chance to undertake a voluntary activity one paid day per year. Generally, these are carried out as groups with the team manager liaising with a charity or other not-for-profit community organisation. In the past teams have done things like decorating a community room or clearing/building a garden area. Other activities might be better suited to individuals especially if drawing on specific skills, expertise or qualifications they want to use, or may reflect their neurotype or personal preferences. 

General considerations

  • If going as a team, the team manager should think about their colleagues and what kind of Community Challenge would best suit the individuals and the team as a whole.  

     

     

     

     

  • It is important that participants are not expected to perform beyond their physical capabilities or risk exacerbating any other physical or psychological health conditions.  
  • Reasonable adaptations should be considered to enable the inclusion of those with a disability who wish to participate. 

Opportunities

Process

  • Manager permission as individuals: Just as when taking leave for a holiday, you should gain your line manager’s permission to be absent and mark in your calendar.
  • Manager permission for a team activity: The team manager should approve their team undertaking a challenge day with their own manager or director and make sure it's noted in the calendar of team members attending.
  • Contacting organisations: You should contact them directly to make enquiries and arrangements.
  • Risk assessments: Most charities and other community organisations should have their own risk assessment for volunteers available in writing. You must ask for a copy. If organisations have 5 employees or fewer, they may only have guidance rather than a Risk Assessment. In this case you should complete one of our University assessments or, if going as a team, the organiser/ team manager should complete this: University risk assessment.
  • Insurance if you/ your team are doing the volunteering with an external organisation: When undertaking volunteering work our staff members count as “the public” and the legal liability of UOE staff and or students will be covered by the volunteer organisation's public liability insurance. The external organisation should, as a minimum, confirm that you are covered in writing or otherwise provide you with a copy of the insurance.
  • Insurance if you/ your team are self-organising e.g. a litter pick: In some cases, e.g. when you are not doing a group litter pick with a charity who are organising everything, you may be asked for proof of insurance by the land owner e.g. the County Council. In this case, University liability insurance will cover the University, its staff and students' legal liability arising from the activity provided it is on behalf of the University i.e. not something a staff member does unrelated to the volunteering activity itself. A copy of the liability insurance can be downloaded here for you to forward on. More information can be found in the Insurance and Risk FAQs and enquiries should go to: insurance@exeter.ac.uk
  • Driving and car cover: Please look at the driving at work standard if driving forms part of the volunteering or if taking colleagues as passengers as you may need to have “business cover”: Driving vehicles on University business.
  • Absence: There is no “absence category” in Trent which currently covers this. Please simply mark it in Trent under Learning/ My activities.

Do please let us know if you undertake a day or are in communication with an organisation. It’s great to know which organisations have engaged with this so we don’t approach the same organisation twice.  

If a correction to this page is needed or you have a question, please contact: ColleagueWellbeing@exeter.ac.uk