This is becoming even more the case with younger workers. Starting with Gen X, employees from each successive generation expect volunteering to be more and more a part of organizational life. The reason: in the late seventies and early eighties, the institutions in young people's lives started pushing youth and school-based volunteering.

Today, students have service learning courses, service hour graduation requirements, service clubs, days of service, and a host of other opportunities to give back. Whether it is because students are rewarded with grades, admission to college, a scholarship, or the feeling they got when done with a project, younger workers have made volunteering -- and expect volunteering to be -- a part of their lives.

The lesson for business owners and managers who supervise workers 40 and under is: be prepared for this challenge from them -- "give me service opportunities, or I'll go somewhere where they do".

The Pause that Refreshes
Aside from the pressure to respond to worker expectations, there are even stronger reasons to go with this trend. There are a number of potential benefits of freely providing volunteer service opportunities, starting with morale.

Business owners and managers often view morale as a soft and squishy area, but it is an important factor in the success of organizations. Employees with high morale are more productive, call in sick less often, and are more committed to their companies. Research by the likes of Sears, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the UK's Institute of Employment Studies, and Hewitt Associates demonstrate the tangible benefits, with bottom-line implications, of improving employee morale.