It’s in the can – Aberdeen boss brushes up for global volunteering relay

Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management will be swapping his suit and ipad for decorators’ overalls and a paint roller and joining colleagues on Global Volunteering Day.

He will join a team of seven from different departments at the company’s headquarters in Aberdeen to give a facelift to the Tivoli Theatre as part of the firm’s committment to a day of volunteering which stretches around the world. Meanwhile, staff from the Edinburgh office will be volunteering with the Scottish Association for Mental Health at the charity’s Redhall Walled Garden.

Aberdeen Asset Management will operate a “volunteering relay” which will begin in Australia with the staff at Aberdeen’s Sydney office before moving to Taipei and Singapore and finishing the day in Toronto, Philadelphia, New York and Sao Paulo. 300 Aberdeen employees from 18 offices across the globe will participate.

The Grade A listed Tivoli Theatre, originally opened in 1872, became a neglected jewel in the Granite City’s architectural crown when it closed its doors in 1997 following a spell as a bingo hall, and was placed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. Reopened by the Tivoli Theatre Company it has been brought back into use as a mixed use entertainment venue. The Aberdeen Asset Management team will be painting the upper bar area as well as restoring and repainiting furniture on Friday.

Other teams from the two Aberdeen offices will be heading to the CFINE foodbank in the city’s Poynernook Road and to assist The Dee Trust with a tree survey project which forms part of the flood recovery work following storm Frank.

Martin Gilbert says, “As a company we are committed to the communities in which we operate across the globe and we recognise our responsibility to make a positive impact in the places in which we live and work. I’m delighted to be lending a hand to bring The Tivoli, which is described by the Theatres Trust as ‘one of Britain’s most important theatre’ back to some of its former glory. As well as the creation of the Aberdeen Charitable Foundation, which formalises and develops our philanthropic activities, we actively encourage, promote and support our staff in their own giving and volunteering. Although days like Give and Gain Day are important to highlight the importance of employee volunteering, we have a commitment to the power of employee volunteering and we have a scheme which gives each member of staff two paid days annually for voluntary work. We also support individual staff fundraising initiatives and we encouraging payroll giving.”

Joyce Duncan, chief executive of Aberdeen Council for Voluntary Organisations (ACVO), which assists Aberdeen Asset Management to find local employee volunteering opportunities, says, “Aberdeen has a well developed policy for providing volunteer leave for their staff but companies of all sizes can encourage more staff to volunteer. It’s a great way to build skills and insight about the communities where we live and employers can reap many benefits such as enhancing the interpersonal skills of their workforce and promotion of team spirit.

"There’s a volunteering opportunity out there to suit eveyone’s skills – we currently have over 800 opportunities at the ACVO Volunteering Centre. Over 52,000 people volunteer already in the Aberdeen area contributing an estimated 4.4 million hours of support a year, but there are always opportunities for more.”

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