Volunteer Time Off (VTO)

As a reward for volunteering, employers can choose to offer employees time off when they record their volunteer hours.

Work with your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to activate and set up VTO for your community.

VTO eligibility

The following requirements apply for volunteer hours to be VTO-eligible:

  1. The charity must be included in the VTO program.

  2. Participation must occur within the program eligibility dates.

  3. For any non-Add Your Own (AYO) events, the VTO eligible checkbox must be selected.

In communities with an active VTO program, event creators can set whether an event is VTO-eligible so volunteers are aware before signing up.

When an event creator creates an event for a charity included in their community's VTO charity list and the event dates occur within the VTO program dates, the VTO eligible option appears on the event draft page, and it defaults to being enabled. The checkbox also appears in the Manage Event, Edit Event Details, Benefiting Organization section.

When VTO eligible is selected, the VTO program information appears in Eligible for on the event page. Participants can then apply for VTO when signing up for the event. Likewise, if VTO eligible is not selected, users will not see the VTO program information in Eligible for and cannot apply for VTO when signing up for the event.

Note: Although the VTO eligible option may not appear when creating an event for an AYO benefiting organization, these events are always set to VTO-eligible.

When applicable, users can sign up for an event with associated VTO hours.

  1. Navigate to Search Opportunities.

  2. Select an event. The event banner indicates if it is eligible for VTO.

  3. Select Sign Up.

  4. Select Add Shift to add the applicable shift(s) for each event occurrence.

  5. Select Next Step.

  6. Complete any required or applicable fields.

  7. In the Eligible for: section, select the applicable VTO button (label may vary between communities).

  8. Select the shift(s) and edit any hour listings as applicable.

  9. Select Next Step.

  10. Select Sign Up. Depending on community settings, a manager may need to provide approval before users receive credit for VTO.

After event completion, users can:

  1. Navigate to Volunteer, My Volunteering.

  2. Under History, select the event they participated in.

  3. In the event, select Edit Participation.

  4. Select VTO (label may vary between communities).

  5. Select the shift(s) and edit any hour listings as applicable.

  6. Select Save. Depending on community settings, a manager may need to provide approval before users receive credit for VTO.

Note: To enable the VTO option for individual activities, your CSM must include an exclusion charity list in your community. In addition, your manager must be listed as a manager in the HR file. Contact your client admin or CSM for details.

  1. Navigate to Volunteer, Record Hours.

  2. Select Get Started.

  3. Complete all necessary and applicable fields to create a new activity.

  4. In the Eligible for: section, select the applicable VTO button (label may vary between communities).

  5. Select the shift(s) and add hour listings as applicable.

  6. In Manager Approval, select Search for Manager and select your manager's name.

  7. Select Save.

Approving VTO requests

VTO programs can be set to automatic approval, admin approval, or manager approval. This setting is configured by your Customer Success Manager when they set up your VTO program.

  1. Navigate to the CSRconnect Admin Portal, VTO Approvals.

  2. Under Pending Requests, select the requests link.

  3. Review each request.

  4. Select either Approve or Decline for each request listed.

  5. Optional step: Include a message to the employee regarding their request.

  6. Select Approve Now or Decline Now. The VTO request is either approved or declined.

Tip: For admin approvals, you can also approve VTO requests from the Approvals Manager.

  1. Navigate to Volunteer, VTO (label may vary between communities).

  2. Select Need Your Approval.

  3. For each request listed, select Manage Request.

  4. Select Approve Request or Decline Request. The VTO request is either approved or declined.