If your employer offers volunteer time off, you may already have a paid way to spend a few hours a month at an animal shelter — without touching your regular vacation days. Here’s how it typically works.
What VTO Actually Is
Volunteer Time Off (VTO) is a paid, employer-sponsored benefit that lets employees take time off specifically to volunteer with charitable nonprofits and other socially responsible causes. It’s separate from your regular paid time off, like vacation and sick days, and using it doesn’t affect your PTO accrual at all.
How Common Is This Benefit?
It’s more common than many employees realize: 47% of U.S. companies offered community volunteer programs in 2022, up from 40% in 2014. Businesses with paid VTO programs offer an average of about 20 hours per employee annually — roughly 2.5 workdays a year to spend however you choose within the program’s guidelines.
Using VTO for Animal Causes Specifically
VTO programs typically let employees choose the cause that matters to them, whether that’s animal welfare, environmental work, or other community causes. For animal-focused employees, this commonly translates into volunteering with a local shelter — walking dogs, socializing cats, or supporting adoption events — all on paid company time.
Why Companies Offer This
A successful VTO policy lets employees support causes they genuinely care about, while also helping the business with retention, employee well-being, and workplace connection — a benefit that pays off for both sides, not just a one-directional perk.
How to Check If You Have This Benefit
- Check your employee benefits portal or handbook for “Volunteer Time Off” or “VTO”
- Ask your HR department directly if it’s not clearly listed
- If your company doesn’t offer it yet, consider proposing it — the growing adoption rate suggests employers are increasingly open to the idea
If you do have this benefit, see our guide to volunteer opportunities beyond fostering for ideas on how to spend it.
Making the Most of a Limited VTO Allowance
With an average of around 20 hours a year, it’s worth thinking strategically about how to use VTO rather than spreading it too thin across many small, disconnected visits. Some employees prefer concentrating their hours into a few longer shifts tied to a specific event, like a major adoption day, while others prefer spreading shorter visits throughout the year for more regular, ongoing engagement with the same shelter. Either approach works — the right one depends on your own schedule and what kind of involvement feels most meaningful to you.
Group VTO: Bringing Coworkers Along
Many companies actively encourage group volunteer outings as part of their VTO program, sometimes even organizing a company-wide shelter day rather than leaving it entirely to individual employees to arrange. If your workplace doesn’t already have this kind of organized event, proposing one to HR or a company culture committee can be a low-effort way to introduce VTO to coworkers who might not know the benefit exists, while also giving a local shelter a meaningful group of volunteers for a single day rather than scattered individual visits.
What to Expect on Your First VTO Shift
If you’ve never volunteered at a shelter before, using VTO for a first visit is a genuinely low-pressure way to try it out, since there’s no cost to you personally if it turns out not to be the right fit. Most shelters provide a brief orientation for new volunteers regardless of how they’re using their time, whether that’s VTO, personal time, or a scheduled regular shift, so don’t expect to need prior experience walking in the door.
Advocating for VTO if Your Employer Doesn’t Offer It
If your workplace doesn’t currently offer VTO, proposing it to HR or leadership is often more successful than employees expect, especially when framed around concrete business benefits — improved retention, positive recruitment messaging, and measurable community goodwill — rather than purely as an employee perk. Bringing data on how common VTO has become across comparable companies, along with a simple proposed policy outline, gives decision-makers a low-effort starting point to actually consider and adopt.
VTO and Remote or Hybrid Work
Companies with remote or hybrid workforces have increasingly adapted VTO policies to accommodate employees who might not live near the company’s physical office, allowing volunteer hours to be used at any local nonprofit near an employee’s actual home rather than requiring participation in a centrally organized company event. If your company hasn’t updated its policy to reflect this flexibility, it’s worth asking specifically whether remote employees can use VTO independently at a shelter of their own choosing.
Tracking and Reporting Your VTO Usage
Most VTO programs require some form of documentation confirming the volunteer activity actually took place — often a simple form signed by shelter staff, or a photo log submitted through an internal company portal. Asking the shelter you volunteer with in advance whether they’re familiar with this kind of documentation request saves time on your actual volunteer day, since many shelters that regularly host corporate volunteers have a standard process already in place for exactly this purpose.
Whatever your company’s specific policy looks like, using VTO for animal welfare work is a genuinely straightforward way to combine a benefit you may already have with a cause you care about, at no personal cost beyond the initiative to ask about it and actually schedule the time. It’s a real, tangible benefit genuinely worth actually checking on today, rather than simply assuming upfront it doesn’t apply to you personally or your own specific role at the particular company you currently happen to work for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does VTO affect my regular vacation days?
No — VTO is a separate, paid benefit from your regular PTO, and using it has no effect on your vacation or sick day accrual.
How common is VTO as an employee benefit?
47% of U.S. companies offered community volunteer programs in 2022, up from 40% in 2014 — a real and growing trend.
How much VTO do companies typically offer?
Businesses with paid VTO programs offer an average of about 20 hours per employee annually — roughly 2.5 workdays a year.
Can I use VTO specifically for animal shelter volunteering?
In most programs, yes — VTO is generally available for any charitable or socially responsible cause the employee chooses, which commonly includes local animal shelters and rescues.
Spend Your VTO With Us
Cats By The Tracks welcomes corporate volunteer groups and individuals using workplace VTO.