One woman I know was recently urged by her company to raise money from employees for the United Way campaign. Yet her boss reprimanded her for raising funds during the workday, insisting she go back to her desk and earn money for the company instead.

Clearly, the trend toward corporate volunteer programs has accomplished much good for society. And for some workers, it represents an ideal outlet to impress the boss or appear to be a corporate team player. But as companies pile volunteering on top of other job demands, I have to wonder, is it a form of unpaid overtime?

BOUNDARIES BLUR

One business expert urges employers to be cautious with blurring the boundaries between job duties and volunteerism.

``If it is an implied requirement or someone is keeping track and it is used to judge employees, then that's asking a lot,'' says Anita Campbell, editor of Small Business Trends, an online publication.

A new report, Volunteering in America, shows 65.4 million Americans volunteered in 2005; people ages 35 to 44 were the most likely to volunteer, and women were more likely than men. Indeed, 63 percent of employed women volunteer.

Corporate programs get credit for drawing in many volunteers. Bolstered by awards for community service in the post-Enron era, more companies look at charity from their own self-interest as a way to score points with employees and come off as good corporate citizens, says Sandy Scott of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the nation's largest grant maker for volunteering and service.

About half the corporations that participate in Hands on Miami's Flexible Volunteer Program track employees hours, and some even award points on performance evaluations. The service projects are done during evenings and weekends.

But even community-minded employees may push back. The Volunteering in America report shows that, among those who had volunteered at some point in the past, the most common reason given for not volunteering in 2005 was lack of time.

When an employer asks that workers volunteer, diplomacy is key in the employee's response. One banker I spoke with says he already was working 45 to 50 hours a week and enduring a grueling one-hour South Florida commute when his boss asked him to attend a Saturday community service program. He offered to write a check instead. Others have taken another route, trying to include their family in corporate-sponsored charity projects.

A small but growing number of companies are allowing volunteering during the work day. For example, UPS, which encourages community involvement, makes it part of its training program. Adolfo Rodicio, a division manager in Miami, spent a month working with the nonprofit organization Henry Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side. He helped at a workshop for the unemployed and in a day care for homeless children and served meals to the elderly. Rodicio says he never would have had time for such intense volunteering, nor would he have had the experiences that help him better understand issues his employees face. He now tries to let his employees do some community service on the clock.

``I learned the importance of my role as mentor to others,'' Rodicio says. ``It helped me become a better manager.''

HELPING ON THE CLOCK

Another option has become a corporate volunteer day in which businesses close and allow employees to participate in a charity project. Hands on Miami says it has seen a spike in the number of companies choosing this path. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers shut its South Florida offices for a full day this summer to allow its employees to interact with Boys & Girls Club summer-camp participants.

``We found our younger people weren't getting the time to learn what a valuable experience volunteering can be,'' said Mario de Armas, office managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers South Florida.

The best volunteer programs give workers some flexibility in choosing projects. Starting in 2007, Premier American Bank of Miami plans to give employees a paid day off each year to volunteer, either on company projects or their own causes. Cristy Leon-Rivero, vice president of human resources at the bank, says it recognizes both that employees have outside commitments and that organizations often need help during the work week. ``We want to give employees flexibility by offering them the time off to make a difference.''

As work picks up with the economy, IBM says it takes pains to give something back to employees who represent IBM but give their own time to the community. For every 35 hours an employee volunteers, the company donates a computer to the organization. It's a way to build IBM's image without imposing on employees' time, says Stanley Litow, vice president of IBM Corporate Community Relations. ``I think employees realize if they help create stronger community institutions, it benefits them.''