Managing volunteers is a tricky balancing act, on the one hand you want to involve them enough that they feel that they are making a difference but on the other hand you do not want to overwhelm them. You want to ensure that volunteers are working within expectations and representing the organisation positively but also not put-up barriers to volunteering.
In my life away from Redway HR I manage a team of over 40 volunteers, Here are a few of things I do to make the team as successful as possible:
Make it easy and cheap.
Begin by following your volunteer experience from first contact onwards, or even better ask someone who doesn’t know your organisation to do it for you. At every stage stop and ask how you can make it easier.
Review your documentation, is it concise, free from jargon and accessible? Can volunteers find it easily when they want to a refresher in the future? The information you share should clearly communicate what they are volunteering to do, set the standards of behaviour and create realistic expectations. You should also make sure that the practical elements of volunteering are clearly explained, such as how to sign up for tasks.
If you pay expenses, make it clear what expenses your volunteers can claim and make the process of claiming them as easy as you can within your organisation’s rules.
There are now some great volunteer management tools available; these allow your volunteers to manage their data and sign up to help on an app – we know not everyone has or wants access to a smartphone – most of the tools offer an alternative so you can still use a manual process, or you could install a tablet in the break area where those without smartphones can access the tool.
Talk to your volunteers.
Take the time to talk to your volunteers, not only does this make them feel valued it will also allow you to learn vital information to improve the volunteering experience.
Understand why they volunteer, what are their motivations? People volunteer for a whole range of different reasons; to learn new skills, to help get back into paid work, to make friends, to make a difference…. Understanding why someone has chosen to volunteer with your organisation will help you tailor their experience and give them tasks they will find fulfilling.
Learn about what is great and what frustrates them about volunteering with your organisation. Encourage volunteers to give feedback on what works and what doesn’t and be prepared to receive it.
Ask for ideas, your volunteers will all have different skills and experiences that will give them a different perspective to yours, but many people will not offer up ideas if they are not asked. Asking costs nothing and makes you more approachable if they do have an idea in the future.
Be clear on expectations.
When talking to volunteers or potential volunteers be honest in what is expected of them. If your organisation requires volunteers to undertake regular training, explain what that involves, how often and how it is accessed.
Clearly explain the tasks that need to be completed, the standards expected and when and how they need to be done. Ambiguity is demotivating for many people so making sure each volunteer knows what they are doing is a great way to retain them. Consider every interaction to be a powerful performance conversation.
Don’t forget to include what volunteers can expect from you, what can they expect in the way of support and rewards; perhaps an annual volunteer picnic or awards night, how quickly can they expect expenses to be paid and what is in place to support them for example equal opportunities, health and safety and bullying and harassment policies, volunteer insurance etc.
Set standards of behaviour, we would always advise having a formal volunteering agreement. This should include all of the above plus the behaviours you expect from your volunteers such as confidentiality, participation in training and ways of working, if they will work with children and vulnerable people you may also want to add in DBS checks and how they are expected ton conduct themselves when communicating with children, vulnerable adults and their families.
Your volunteer agreement should talk about expectations and hopes for the relationship rather than responsibilities and obligations. It should avoid talking about set hours or time periods and shouldn’t offer any perks or benefits that might be considered payment. You may also want to state that it is not a legal contact for the avoidance of any doubt.
Support and development
You should make it clear to your volunteers where they can turn to for support; this might be a supervisor or you could have a fellow volunteer act as a buddy or mentor for other volunteers. All volunteers should be clear on who they can talk to if they have a problem, ideally you want this to be more than one person, in case the first is unavailable or their problem is with that person.
Ensure that all your volunteers are aware of the training and development opportunities that are available to them and use your conversations with them to learn what other input they would find beneficial or interesting. This does not need to be formal training but could be volunteering in different areas of the organisation to learn new skills or just more about the work.
Time off
Taking time off from my volunteering is so much harder than taking time off from work. I feel guilty when I take time off and I know I am not the only one. It is important to tell people that the expectation is not that they will be there every week – encourage people to take time away regularly.
Say thank you
The most important thing is to thank and recognise your volunteers. If you do not already have a volunteer awards programme, consider setting one up. Once again talk to your volunteers, knowing what motivates them and how they like to be recognised will make your thank you more impactful. A charity we did some training with last year told us about one of their volunteers who finds being the centre of attention excruciating and so the rather than thank them publicly as they do with most of their volunteers, they write them detailed thank you cards describing all the ways they have helped recently. They described to us visiting the volunteer at home and seeing all the cards displayed with pride.
With many voluntary organisations experiencing shortages of volunteers, it is vital for us to manage our existing volunteers as best we can in order to maximise retention. Over 10% of volunteers who had left regular volunteering said that a lack of appreciation or poor management were behind their decision to stop volunteering (The National Council for Voluntary Organisations). This was the biggest reason within the control of the voluntary organisation – changes to health and personal circumstances being the most common reasons- and is a key area where we can make th
Make it consistent.
These are all important areas of focus when it comes to great volunteer management. So creating consistency in your approach to each of these areas is vital. The key to sustained success it make sure your (non volunteer) team knows who is responsible for volunteer management and each element of it.
By Jenny Ryder-O’Regan