Volunteers: how to attract and retain these valuable workers
I met with a person at a local soccer club the other night. They were a secretary of the club and were still operating the kiosk as the evening game concluded at around 9:30 pm. During the conversation, they advised that they had been there since 4:30 pm, after working a full day in their paid employment. They said they were going to be there the following night, all day Saturday and were needed to help run a full day carnival on Sunday.
Volunteers act as a backbone of community and not-for-profit organisations, and many such organisations depend on attracting, engaging, and retaining resourceful volunteers. But the expectations placed on volunteers are ever increasing. Escalating focus on risk management, maintenance, cleaning, asset management, financial management, reporting, and governance takes its toll.
These types of factors contribute to the declining number of volunteers. In New Zealand, as an example of too few volunteers doing too much,14.1% of volunteers complete approximately 50% of total volunteer hours.
So, what is the value of volunteering?
Volunteering work in Australia has been estimated to be worth in excess of $43 billion per year (ABS 2016). Without a doubt, volunteers add great economical value, but it remains a matter of debate as to who is the greatest beneficiary of volunteering: society, the organisation, the recipients, or the volunteers themselves.
Why do people engage in volunteering?
Research indicates that the reasons for volunteering can be clustered into six distinct profiles:
1. “Classic volunteers” want to do something useful, help others, and gain personal satisfaction.
2. “Dedicated volunteers” are motivated by a wide and less focused range of reasons.
3. “Personally involved volunteers” volunteer because they know someone in the organisation, such as their child.
4. “Volunteers for personal satisfaction”
5. “Altruists” mainly want to help the community, and
6. “Niche volunteers” have a few specific and less common motivators, such as gaining work experience.
The above motivations are important to understand as they not only get people into volunteering, but significantly influence the various distinct, yet interconnected stages of the individual's volunteering journey. These stages are:
· becoming a volunteer,
· deriving benefits from volunteering activities,
· remaining a volunteer over time, and
· withdrawing from volunteering.
Experiences at different stages of volunteering are related and affect the decision to remain in a volunteering role. As such the value of organisations developing and implementing an effective volunteer plan is fundamental to attracting motivating and retaining volunteers
It is also important that governing bodies, Councils etc understand the impacts of their increased reporting and governance requirements and assist organisations to grow and retain their volunteer base.
The following are some of the key points raised in terms of attracting and retaining volunteers….now, if only there were enough volunteers and support to do all these things 😊 Anyway, I hope there are some aspects of this that can be used to help our valuable volunteers.
To attract volunteers promote the rewards of volunteering, understand the motivations of your volunteers, leverage off the motivations of different volunteers eg older persons (giving back), sports … having a child participating, friends are volunteers, develop role descriptions, promote and advertise volunteer opportunities on different platforms, place volunteers in roles that suit their skills and interests
Provide adequate support and resourcing including ensuring effective orientation e.g., develop an induction checklist , providing adequate, fit for purpose training, pay all reasonable out of pocket expenses and ensure support for those in traumatic situations including effective coping strategies
Ensure effective communication and seek feedback from current and exiting volunteers. Be aware of and manage conflicts with paid employees and help paid employees understand the impact of any conflicts on volunteer retention
Acknowledgement and reward is critical and managers of volunteer should plan and schedule activities to acknowledge the volunteers, as well as opportunities for volunteers to form new relationships and build the established ones. Like any workplace its important to create a pleasant social environment and provide them with skill development and training
Involving volunteers in planning and goal setting, be sure to create clear and realistic expectations and set priorities that are understood
Manage risk from those related to safety eg working with children checks, not doing work they are not qualified to do eg asbestos awareness, electrical repairs, help when they deal with difficult or demanding clients, and minimise red tape for volunteers and, understand red tape requirements on volunteer administrators
Key in the above is to allocate funds to support all of the above
The following are some interesting reads on volunteer attraction and retention:
· Volunteering Australia’s National Standards, and 101 ways to recognise your volunteers
I’m a newbie to volunteering… so I’m the very last one to be critical of those who don’t…but you know what… it does feel good to be helping. With so many amazing people with such incredible skills and energy, it would be great if we can get a lot more people involved. Any help you can give with that is appreciated.
