Volunteers are the backbone for many charities, providing countless hours of service be it in campaigning, direct delivery or fundraising…with some volunteers engaging in all three.
The value of this to individual charities and the wider societal benefit is clearly enormous.
It is essential that charities recognise, support and respect the contribution that their volunteers make. Many do a good job at this whilst others are somewhat lacking.
However, it is also important to ensure that there is an equitable relationship between volunteers and paid personnel. Volunteers can get frustrated…sometimes understandably so but how does your charity react when it comes to more inappropriate behaviour such as aggression or verbal abuse which is directed at a member of staff?
Here’s a few examples:
“I’m a volunteer…you get paid so do your job!”….to a member of staff who works on average 45+ hours per week…arguably volunteering for 10 of them.
“Your salary should be spent on something more productive”…to a member of staff explaining a procedural change that isn’t going down to well with a volunteer.
“I emailed you yesterday and you’ve done sod all about my query, you’re useless!”…to a part-time member of staff who received over a 100 emails the day before.
I’ve seen it time and time again.
This is not the behaviour displayed by the majority of volunteers but in a large charity which may have hundreds, even thousands of volunteers, it can be a daily occurrence, leaving staff upset and demoralised.
How is this issue dealt with?
All too often, it’s not dealt with particularly well. Staff are often ‘unofficially’ expected to take the abuse…to grin and bear it because volunteers are so important.
This should not be the case.
All volunteers should be given a “Volunteer Charter” at point of becoming a volunteer for any charity. This should outline the values of the charity; how it will support the volunteer in their role, and the expected behaviour from both parties to the relationship. Adherence to this Charter should be given real importance. Some charities have such a document but may as well not bother as only lip service is paid to it.
There should not be an assumption that a volunteer is always right. Equally, there should not be an overriding desire to placate volunteers at the expense of staff.
Relationships between volunteers and staff must be equitable. They must be built on mutual trust and understanding. There has to be a recognition that both parties have a role to play and can often be doing their best under trying circumstances and with limited capacity.
Payment for services rendered typically engenders a degree of professionalism and courtesy in our interaction with others but this should also be expected of unpaid personnel. Anything less is damaging to a charity’s brand and will ultimately lessen the impact it has on its beneficiaries.
VCSblog 