- Introduction
- Getting off to a good start
- Language
- Team building
- The relationship between paid staff and volunteers
- Support and supervision
- Recognising volunteers' contribution
- Volunteer reviews
- Volunteer expenses
- Volunteer insurance
Introduction
A good volunteering experience means that the volunteer's expectations are met and the organisation benefits by their involvement. This happens because the initial "match" is right and because the organisation recognises that the ongoing management of volunteers is essential in keeping volunteers motivated and committed to staying. This section looks at ways to achieve this.
Let's start by recapping on some of the tasks you do at recruitment stage which can have a significant bearing on whether volunteers stay or leave.
- Understand individual motivation: Knowing exactly what a volunteer wants from the experience is key. You should only offer a volunteer an opportunity that is likely to meet their expectations. This is known as matching the volunteer with the right role.
- Demonstrate an organisational commitment to your volunteers by having actions and written policies and procedures which set out your commitment to volunteer involvement.
Remember volunteers aren't contractually bound to stay, so they will walk (and rightly so) if you don't look after them.
Getting off to a good start
First impressions are lasting so make a good one by having these in place:
- A welcoming team
- A positive environment for volunteers
- Worthwhile roles for volunteers
- Role descriptions
- An induction programme
- A training plan
- Someone to manage and support the volunteer
Language
Organisations rarely reflect on how their use of language influences the culture of the organisation and the relationship between its staff and members. Organisations are often unaware of potentially negative signals which their everyday language has.
The "onlys"
How many times have you heard a volunteer say "I'm only a
volunteer"? It's up to the organisation to ban the word
only and create a status for volunteers which recognises
their contribution as an integral part of the organisations
work.
Titles
Job titles have their place but they tend to be used when
not always necessary. Referring to people all the time as
paid staff, scheme staff or volunteers can create a notion
of hierarchy and division. The description "team" sounds a
lot better, so use it as often as possible.
There are a number of titles used to describe the person who is responsible for managing volunteers. Choose the one that what suits your organisation best.
- Volunteer manager
- Manager for/of volunteers
- Volunteer programme manager
- Volunteer co-ordinator
- Volunteer supervisor
The verb commonly attached to volunteers is "use": "we use volunteers to ..." Think of other words which describe the contribution in a more positive way.
- involve
- rely on
- count on
- ask
- need
- delegate to
- allow
- assign
Team building
While all management tasks are important, special attention needs to be given to team building because it is the ability of people to work well together that is key to a positive and effective working environment.
Whether team building happens formally or informally, you need to know it's working and act when it's not. Here are some examples of how team building happens.
| Informal |
| Creating a friendly atmosphere (don't underestimate this!) |
| Going out to lunch together or bringing it in |
| A social event |
| Celebrating special events like birthdays or national volunteer days |
| Having tea breaks together |
| Formal |
| Clear understanding of the different roles and how
they contribute to the work of the organisation Clarity about work boundaries Regular team meetings on topics of common interest Team support sessions Team case study reviews |
| Team training Training delivered by team members |
| Team input into planning |
| Clear procedures for dealing with difficulties that arise between paid staff and volunteers |
| Special projects involving volunteers and paid staff |
| Team input into volunteer recruitment |
The relationship between paid staff and volunteers
Whether there are two or two hundred roles, there needs to be clarity within every organisation about each role and how they relate to each other. This avoids confusion and misunderstanding, as well as ensuring things run smoothly.
One of the only ways to get a high degree of clarity is to have things in writing. You could start by listing the various roles in your organisation and then write down what their core duties are and how they relate to each other. The relationships between them are not always obvious so you may have to consult with others involved.
The diagram below shows on organisation with five distinct roles common to many volunteer involving organisations. You might find it useful in charting how your organisation connects with each other and what the main task of each role is. It only needs to be detailed enough to give a basic understanding to volunteers of who does what.
Many organisations have written descriptions outlining the relationship between paid staff and volunteers. This is done to clarify roles and responsibilities and to avoid confusion at best, and clashes at worst. These usually include:
- Volunteers should not be substitutes for paid staff
- There should be clear boundaries around the roles of paid staff and volunteers, each having a good understanding of the other's role, its scope and limitations and relationship between the two.
- The roles of both paid staff and volunteers should be mutually enhancing
- There should be good integration of paid staff and volunteers within teams where practicable
- Communication structures should be in place to facilitate team work, mutual awareness and respect
- Support for, and commitment to, the volunteering programme should be modelled at the highest levels of the organisation
Volunteer support & supervision
Regardless of the words you choose to describe "support and supervision", the Task of supporting volunteers and supervising their contribution is core in volunteer management. Whether you have a formal system in place or not, all organisations with volunteers have some a system of showing the volunteer firstly how to do the job and secondly, ensuring that the job is done well.
Whatever you choose to call support and supervision, the purpose is generally the same:
- To provide an opportunity to give and get feedback
- To review the contribution the volunteer is making
- To ensure that the work of the volunteer is in line with the aims and objectives of the organisation
The time and resources given to volunteer support and supervision will vary. Be guided by:
- The role - for example, a volunteer working as a volunteer advocate will require a different level of support and supervision than a volunteer driver
- The level of specialism - for example, a volunteer working as legal adviser or translator will not require skills training so your support and supervision session is more likely to be more about case work
- The time commitment - for example, the number of hours worked has a bearing on how often you do support and supervision
- The volunteer: some volunteers will require more support and supervision than others. Beware if the demands of an individual volunteer are disproportionate to other volunteers and/or the time you can reasonably give to the volunteer.
- The level of formality/informality appropriate to the role
- Having consistency between volunteers in the same role.
Support and supervision are about enabling the volunteer to do the job to the best of their ability and to the satisfaction of the organisation. It's also about saying thanks.
What's involved?
- Agree to meet the volunteer shortly after they start volunteering to review how things are going. Exchange feedback and clarify what, if any, issues have arisen.
- Decide what support and supervision each role or volunteer requires.
- Clarify the role of support and supervision with each volunteer, emphasising the positive aspects.
- Agree how often it will happen
- Prepare properly by finding out what the volunteer has been doing, acknowledge specific work that they have done and get feedback on the training they attended.
- Make sure that other team members involved in volunteer support and supervision are adequately trained and supported to do the task
- Have an open door policy for volunteers to talk to you at other times
It's important to address any issues that arise while volunteering during the support and supervision meeting. Doing so as early as possible will hopefully avoid problems escalating.
Try to meet all volunteers at least once a year and more often if possible to review how the work is going
Recognising volunteers' contribution
Everyone likes to be thanked for the work they do and as a manager, it's your job to make sure that the contribution of volunteers is acknowledged individually and collectively. The more obvious ways this happens are:
- Thanking volunteers at the end of the day
- Knowing your volunteers by name
- Acknowledging specific contributions undertaken by a volunteer
- Being genuine in your praise
- Holding special volunteer events
The less obvious ways include:
- Making sure volunteers know what they are entitled to without having to ask and encouraging volunteers to avail of what is on offer, such as training and claiming expenses
- Ensuring volunteers are kept informed about service and organisational changes
- Being proactive in getting volunteers involved in planning and developing the service
- Act on volunteers' ideas, where possible
- Offering volunteers the option to try new roles and take on new challenges
- Giving volunteers the option to attend conferences and events
- Ensuring volunteers are included on internal communications systems
- Keeping volunteers updated by having a notice-board or volunteer folder
- Maintaining records about volunteers' role, length of service, training attended, reviews etc
- Giving volunteers positions of responsibility
- Supporting volunteers who have a difficult experience. This has to be done as soon as the volunteer needs it and not when you have the time!
- Passing on from the team and the users of the service
- Attending volunteer support and supervision meetings.
Volunteer Reviews
This template could be useful in providing a structure to an annual review.
Download the Word version of the Annual Review Template
Volunteer Expenses
It's accepted as good practice that volunteers should not incur any financial costs when volunteering and that cost should not be a barrier to volunteering. However, the reality is that many organisations could not afford to have volunteers if they adopted this guideline.
Consider what costs you can realistically afford.
- Parking
- Public transport
- Mileage
- Car insurance
- Food
- Childcare costs
- Carer costs
And then set out a procedure for claiming expenses.
Download the Word version of the Volunteer Expenses Claim
Form
Volunteer insurance
Check with your insurance company that your policy covers the range of volunteer activities you plan to undertake and make any adjustments to the policy prior to the volunteer starting.
You will need to specify at induction what the insurance includes and what is not. It's useful for everyone to know about:
- Using their car for work purposes
- Theft of personal items while volunteering
- Damage of personal items while volunteering
- Injury while volunteering
Design a leaflet with the relevant information for volunteers to refer to.
Further information sources Citizens Information Board Group Resource Scheme
Clarke, J. (1997) Managing Better: Staff Support and Supervision. Combat Poverty Agency
McCurley, S. and Vineyard, S. (1998) Handling problem volunteers. Heritage Arts
Volunteer Development Agency: (2001) As Good As They Give
Websites
Previous 
