This week, Foodbank Queensland is celebrating one of its volunteers: insurance broker Stephen Carey. For the last six years, the MakSure Risk Advisers director has spent one day each week preparing food packages. Foodbank has nominated him for a Westfield Local Heroes award.
The father of two boys also recently dressed up in a banana suit for the 5km Bridge to Brisbane run to raise awareness around the state’s food challenges (main picture with family).
Are Carey’s bunch of efforts another sign of Australia’s changing work model? Across the business world, including in the insurance industry, the profile and importance of charity work and volunteering is growing.
Many companies now have paid volunteer days built into work contracts. There are also frequent charity efforts from some insurance industry leaders. Robert Kelly, Steadfast Group CEO, and Damien Coates, CEO of DUAL Asia-Pacific, raise tens of thousands of dollars annually for causes including mental health and homelessness.
Anecdotal evidence suggests this change is broad based. Increasing numbers of insurance professionals are volunteering.
“I think it's definitely changed over time,” said Carey. “If I look at the start of my career, there weren't really opportunities at all for staff to volunteer.”
The broker said companies are actively looking to be more socially responsible but also retain staff and “keep them happy.”
Carey’s regular Foodbank volunteering started during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said this freed up some time.
“I never really had this chance before,” he said. “It showed me the benefit of really doing it and being a more full-time volunteer and wanting to pull that into my career and do it on a weekly basis.”
COVID-19 was also a major catalyst for another major change to Australia’s work model: working from home. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data suggests that almost 40% of the country’s workforce regularly work from home.
Carey said the decision to start his own authorised representative (AR) business – he launched the firm a few months ago – has also allowed him to accommodate charity work.
“There are also different business models, like the authorized rep networks in the insurance industry, that give individuals who have left the corporate world and are looking to run their own business, the ability to do different things to meet their needs,” he said.
Insurance Business suggested to Carey that many people with young children and a full-time job would really struggle to find the time.
“My approach is I just make the time to be honest,” he said. “It’s something that's important to me, that I want to do.”
Carey sets aside half a day to volunteer on Monday mornings – when his business tends to be quietest – and then makes up the rest of the hours during the week.
“It's tough,” said Carey. “I’m three months into running this business but it's just so important to me to do it and I get so many benefits out of being there, contributing and having interactions with the charity and the volunteers.”
He said it also helps him be more productive.
“I also have a wife who's supportive and she helps pick up some of the slack to make it possible,” said Carey.
According to a Foodbank media release, 1 in 5 Queenslanders struggle to put food on the table. Many who go hungry are children.
“Kids going to school without any food, it’s hard for them to try to study,” said Carey. “Thinking of my two kids just makes it more meaningful - no kid should go to class with an empty stomach.”
According to the release, Foodbank Queensland provides millions of kilograms of food and groceries to more than 350 frontline charities each year. These include homeless shelters, aged care homes and over 400 School Breakfast Programs each year. The effort feeds about 150,000 Queenslanders.
Carey said one reason why he volunteers for Foodbank is its undeniable impact.
“I was introduced to Foodbank by an insurance lawyer who's retired now and he's also one of the founding directors of the charity,” he said. “I think what struck me was just the reach that it has - it's one charity but it serves a vast network of member charities.”
Do you volunteer for a charity? Tell us about what you do and why you do it?
