How to Recruit and Keep Volunteers (Even in the most Uninviting Workplaces)

Despite the negativity of some managers about using volunteers, the rewards can be great.

However, you must take a different approach to managing them than you would paid employees.  At least that is the case in some respects.  In others, they should be managed exactly as you would employees. 

In my last post I outlined some of these differences and similarities and here I want to show you a system of managing volunteers, from recruitment right through to termination, that really works. My colleagues and I developed and used this model for managing volunteers for an extremely difficult work environment; a sobering-up centre.  Working through the night with people who are abusive, vomiting and at risk of life-threatening withdrawal symptoms is not everyone’s cup of tea, but we maintained a volunteer programme of 20 to 30 people who supported our professional staff. 

Appoint a Volunteer Coordinator

One of the first things you should do is appoint a volunteer coordinator.  She could be a volunteer herself, but will need to have some basic management and organisation skills and an upbeat, outgoing personality.  She will need to be available for four to eight hours per week and will take on much of the practical management of the volunteers.  (If you’re just starting out on a volunteer programme you can do this yourself until you find the right person, but be aware of the extra impost on your time.)

Work on developing an effective and reproducible recruitment programme

You have to come to terms with the fact that there is a high attrition rate at every stage of the recruitment, selection, induction and maintenance phase of the volunteer relationship.  (Even if you do all the right things to care for your volunteers, attrition is always high.  This is not a reflection on your management – it’s just the nature of things.)

After some experimentation, our recruitment programme settled down to the following steps: 

1. We placed a small (but relatively expensive) advertisement in the city-wide newspaper and took about 50 to 60 inquiries,
2. We invited them to an information night and supper, and had about 25 to 35 attendees,
3. Around 15 to 20 signed up for volunteer service on the night or in the days that followed,
4. These were put through an induction course which included half a day in the training room, being rostered into a series of 5 training shifts, and completing a journal of their experiences of each shift,
5. 10 to 12 volunteers would complete the course, but some of them were weeded out by us as part of the selection process,
6.  Those that got through this stage were rostered into the activities of the centre, each one committing to at least one shift a fortnight,
7. The whole process was repeated three or four times a year, and in this way we were able to maintain an establishment of about 20 to 30 volunteers.  

Clearly define the volunteer relationship

Each volunteer received a position description, volunteer guidelines, a volunteer agreement, as well as other material defining the nature of the relationship between them and the centre, and the expectations on both sides.  (This link will take you to the guidelines and agreement that we are currently using in Taiwan.  Feel free to plagiarise with pride.)

Develop a volunteer community and celebrate volunteers with non-financial rewards 

About once a quarter, we had a volunteer event that would affirm the contribution of the volunteers.

Sometimes it would be an event just for them, such as a meal and movie night, and sometimes it would be to an occasion to show them off to the rest of the team, who also need to be reminded of their value from time to time.   Awards, gifts and appreciation certificates had an important part to play in such events. 

Volunteers should get all the benefits that paid employees do

If the paid employees get access to tee shirts, meals on duty, Hep B vaccinations, whatever, the volunteers should be getting them too.  This is important to send the message that they are valued members of the team. 

Performance manage volunteers in a forthright, but respectful and professional, way

One of the things that seems to freak out some managers of volunteers is the thought of performance managing them.  But actually, like most of us, volunteers respond best with professional candid approach.   A performance management interview of a volunteer should not be significantly different to that of an employee.  The legal restrictions may be lighter, but a firm and frank, solution-focused approach will usually enhance the commitment of the volunteer and the quality of his work. 

Clarify and validate the volunteer’s departure

Many volunteers are embarrassed about leaving after a relatively short period, so they just quietly avoid getting rostered on in the hope they will be forgotten.  Of course this sets up a dynamic where it is difficult for them to return should they want to sometime in the future.  Having spent resources on recruiting and training a volunteer, it would be best to have the door open to her return. 

We tried to not let this "quietly slipping away" happen, and if a volunteer had not been rostered on for more than a month or so, we would have a conversation affirming that it was OK to leave, and the door is open for her to come back. 

Understand the reasons for high turnover and accept is as part of the cost of doing business

Coming to terms with the reasons why turnover is high (compared to that of employees) will help you to appreciate that, despite this, volunteers are great value and a volunteer programme is well worth the effort.  These are just some of the reasons:

• Left to start paid employment (I am still amazed at the number of long term unemployed people who enter paid employment after only a short period of volunteer work),
• We liked them so much we hired them for one of our paid positions (happened more times than I can count),
• Went off to do a qualification in human services so they could advance in the field,
• Found that our type of work was too challenging for them (it was very in-your-face),
• Had exorcised their ghosts (many do this kind of work because they had a parent who was an alcoholic, or had some other brush with alcoholism or other drug abuse, and it helps them reconcile with their past). 

By being proactive to leave the door open for a return was a real bonus for the centre.  On several occasions, a year or two later after leaving, the volunteer would present as a candidate for a (paid) position.  In the intervening time, they built on the skills we had taught them, gained more, and came back to us with quite a nice package of experience and competencies, as well as a real affection for the centre that got them started. 

Volunteers are not free  - But they are amazing value!

If we’re talking strictly about financial recompense, it is true that we don’t pay volunteers.  But there are costs involved and they need to be understood and budgeted for.    

Advertising for recruitment, management time and appreciation events are not insignificant costs, and you can reasonably expect these to add up to 10% or 20% of what it would cost to have these volunteers on payroll.  But even at this rate, they are still great value simply in terms of cold hard cash.  

But of course the real value of volunteers is not just the work they do, but they people they are.  It is the intangible value-adding that they bring to the workplace in terms of raised levels of enthusiasm, greater commitment to the mission, and fresh ideas and challenges to staleness.  And having a cadre of workers who are “bigger” than the office politics that all organisations suffer from is invaluable.  

So, what’s stopping you from starting a volunteer programme today?