Managing Volunteers

Volunteers & Paid Staff

Introduction
As an organisation in the community and voluntary sector develops, the range of human resources which it utilises tends to increase. A typical organisation might have:

paid staff (for example, full-time, part-time, permanent, temporary)
staff on state-sponsored employment schemes (for example, Community Employment, Jobs Initiative, Social Economy)
different types of volunteers (for example, management committee volunteers, project-based volunteers, long-term volunteers)
people whose 'status' in the organisation is unclear (for example, students on placement).

These people all have a vital role to play in the effective running of the organisation; after all, work is work, whether it is paid or unpaid. Unless handled strategically and sensitively, however, such organisational complexity has the potential to cause conflict. To illustrate, consider these questions:

Who holds the power, on paper . and in practice?
Has the most effective mix of paid and unpaid workers for the organisation ever been discussed?
Do volunteers and paid staff perform the same tasks?
Is there talk of 'professional' staff versus volunteers, implying that volunteers cannot be professional in their approach to work?

To build an effective team in which everyone feels motivated, it is crucial that the organisation as a whole, and all the individuals within it, recognise the importance of equality and true partnership and that everyone has a clearly defined and meaningful role to play.

Substitution of volunteers by paid staff
Most paid jobs in the not-for-profit sector were at one stage done by pioneering volunteers. As the activities became too much for part-time volunteers, and as organisations became legitimised and received funding, paid staff were gradually employed to take on these roles. If all volunteers are fully aware and supportive of this process, the transition is likely to be smooth. If, however, this is done without adequate consultation - as was often the case when Community Employment schemes were first started - the consequences are likely to be negative.

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Substitution of paid staff by volunteers
'Job substitution' is a phrase describing the use of volunteers to do work that ought to be done by paid staff and applies primarily to larger organisations. Volunteers could be being substituted for paid employment if they are performing jobs:

for a commercial organisation in the for-profit sector
that were formerly carried out by paid workers
that are still being carried out by paid workers
that are solely about personal physical care, for example, washing and taking to the toilet people with physical disabilities
which, because of their continuous, repetitive or unattractive nature should be paid (although volunteers themselves should be free to choose what they consider attractive tasks)
for organisations or individuals with the means to employ someone
which are the legal responsibility of someone else
for employees who are in dispute with their employers.

However, there are no hard and fast rules about job substitution, as each organisational setting is different. Also consider unenviable scenarios, such as an organisation which has to make its paid staff redundant after experiencing drastic funding cuts and has a short-term choice of either ceasing operations completely or involving volunteers .

The importance of defining clear boundaries

The aim should be to be as 'black and white' as possible; the potential for problems in 'grey areas' is huge. There should be clarity about each and every role in the organisation, as well as clearly defined and transparent lines of communication and accountability. In order to ensure that everyone is happy in their role, involve people directly in defining it at the start and refining it over time. Ask volunteers what work they would like to do and what they absolutely don't want to do. Ask paid staff which tasks they would like to delegate to volunteers. Try to match volunteer and staff needs by designing motivational roles for each.

Best practice includes avoiding situations where people 'wear different hats'. Thus, it is better if paid staff don't volunteer for the organisation that they work for. If they do, it is important that they undertake completely different work, in order to avoid potential power struggles and unclear disciplinary situations. It is also better if volunteers from the board or management committee concentrate on their governance role, instead of becoming too involved in project-based work, as in one situation they are managing a member of staff and in the other they are being managed by that same member of staff - another potential source of conflict. If paid employment opportunities become available within an organisation, volunteers should be allowed to apply for these, but it is always better to adhere to good equality and recruitment practice and to advertise widely, rather than simply slotting someone into a very different role without proper thought.

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The role of the volunteer coordinator
A small but increasing number of organisations now have a paid volunteer coordinator/manager of volunteer services. Even for those who don't, there should ideally be one person in any organisation who coordinates volunteer recruitment and retention. Volunteer management is a skilled and complex job which requires general management skills. However, as the exchange relationship between a volunteer and an organisation is different to that of paid staff, because no remuneration is involved, interpersonal skills and motivational techniques are much more important than control . different strokes for different folks! Part of the volunteer coordinator's role is training and encouraging other staff to work with volunteers; they cannot, and should not, be expected to supervise hundreds of volunteers directly.

The role of the management committee
The management committee must recognise that they themselves perform a unique volunteering role in the organisation. They must also fully support and value the other volunteers, the volunteer coordinator, the paid staff and any other human resources in the organisation. The keys to management committee support are understanding, information and involvement.

Gaining staff support for working with volunteers
Paid staff may be reluctant to work with volunteers. Their concerns may include:

fears about job security and budget cuts
resentment about an increased short-term workload for training, and general feeling that volunteers will be a burden rather than a help
fear of having to manage volunteers without the experience of doing so
worries about not being able to control volunteers
apprehension about diminished quality of service
reservations about volunteers not being dependable or unable to respect confidentiality.

Unless one finds out what staff concerns are, and unless these are addressed through policy and very sensitive negotiations, staff will take their frustration out on volunteers! Strategies for gaining their support include:

Having a volunteer policy, which clearly expresses why volunteers are involved in the first place
Making effective working with volunteers an integral part of job descriptions, which are then evaluated at appraisals
Assessing staff capabilities in terms of their own volunteering experience, their volunteer management experience and their attitudes to volunteers
Inclusion of volunteering information in staff induction and ongoing training
Staff involvement in the drawing up meaningful volunteering roles
Staff involvement in the selection, induction and probationary period of volunteers
Recognition of paid staff who work well with volunteers
Seeking one department or individual for whom volunteer involvement is a great success and advertising this; others will want to follow.

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Gaining volunteer support for working with paid staff
Volunteers are just as likely to have concerns, legitimate or otherwise, about working with paid staff. These may include:

I'm more qualified than paid staff - so why should I let them boss me around?
I'm here to help out and staff should be grateful
Why should they get paid when I don't?
I am always told what to do but never asked to participate
My suggestions aren't listened to and people are unwilling to make changes
Employees get the credit for my good ideas
Why do I get the work no one else wants to do?
Staff don't work hard enough
Staff are here to support us volunteers.

Strategies for gaining volunteer support include:

Having a staff policy, which clearly expresses why different types of paid staff are employed by the organisation and how this relates to the work of non-paid staff
Selective, targeted volunteer recruitment, with careful matching of volunteers to tasks
Making effective working with staff a stated part of volunteer role descriptions
Inclusion of staff information in volunteer induction and ongoing training
Seeking feedback from volunteers about members of staff who work particularly well with volunteers
Allowing volunteers to play an appropriate participatory role in the organisation.

Strategies for effective teamwork
In conclusion, productive volunteer and staff partnerships are characterised by:

Clear understanding by everyone of all the different roles in the organisation and what the expectations of these roles are
Two-way communication to inform who is doing what, when and how
Team building that involves all levels in the organisation's planning and decision-making, thereby increasing ownership of the organisation's goals by everyone
Open and honest evaluation of activities by both staff and volunteers
Public and private recognition of the accomplishments of volunteers and staff, and what they have achieved together
Dealing with problems and getting rid of people who persistently fail to work with others, through the appropriate management, disciplinary and election procedures of the organisation. The ultimate focus should be on your organisation achieving its mission - the human resources are there to make that happen, not to hinder that process!

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