Before volunteers even start to offer their time and energy, it’s important to understand how the law applies to volunteers. In this piece, we will look at the legal and managerial considerations you will need to think about in order to manage your volunteers effectively. It is vital to have a policy and good practice in place for effective volunteer management. Some examples of this will be discussed throughout the article.
Expenses policy
Good organisations have an expenses policy to cover volunteers for any additional costs or travel. Expecting a volunteer to cover their costs can be difficult for people who have a low income as it hinders their ability to regularly volunteer. Expenses that are reasonable, and within the organisation’s budget, should be reimbursed. Some of these include:
- Travel costs – whether it be in your own vehicle or public transport
- Meals and refreshments during volunteering
- Additional equipment e.g protective clothing
This is just a brief example of some of the most common expenses volunteers claim. All organisations are different and have different policies in place. However, these expenses must be incurred during the time of volunteering and volunteers should avoid additional costs.
There are guidelines and help out there on how organisations should have an expenses policy. The NCVO provide support and guidance to help you understand your legal rights and obligations when managing volunteers.
Induction policy
A good induction can be the make or break of a volunteer programme. Volunteers come with a great amount of enthusiasm and motivation but without a structured induction process, the enthusiasm can soon fade away.
Volunteers need the right training for the jobs that are required of them. Some volunteering opportunities require a great demand for skill and knowledge and volunteers need the right training and induction process in order to understand what is expected of them.
For example, volunteering roles, such as a marketing lead on a big organisation event, involve a great understanding of the organisation’s brand and goals. As qualified as the volunteer may be, without an induction, they will not be as effective in their role. Even if opportunities don’t require a high demand for skill and understanding, it is still important to induct the volunteer. Some things to include in an induction process are…
- Your organisation’s policies and procedures.
- Background to the organisation’s ethos and structure
- Voicing concerns and how to deal with complaints
- The role and responsibilities of the opportunity
TeamKinetic helps volunteer managers simplify this process by providing them with an organisation specific website. This gives the manager the freedom to provide as much information as they want for the volunteer. Such as a full description of their job roles and background to the organisation and organisation policies. However, it is important to try and always organise a one-to-one with a volunteer so they feel well-inducted and welcomed to the organisation.
Support
Empathy is key when working with volunteers, to manage and retain your helpers, volunteer managers must always ask themselves ‘how would I feel about this if I was the volunteer?’
Many times volunteers are thrown into tasks with little or no support and understanding of their role’s outcomes or objectives. Volunteer managers should aim to :
- Provide the volunteer with a well-defined induction process.
- Send out regular newsletters and information that is necessary to the volunteer.
- Deal with concerns or problems volunteers have early on.
- Assess training needs and facilitate personal development
TeamKinetic supports this by allowing organisations to have their own bespoke website that provides these features. Volunteer managers are able to communicate with volunteers easily through the site and have regular one-to-one contact with them.
How TeamKinetic can help?
The volunteer management system allows managers to upload documents such as the induction process, so volunteers have a greater understanding of what is expected of them. additionally, the system allows managers to group the volunteers on experience from the application process. This allows the manager to identify opportunities that are ideal for the volunteer when they first start.
Volunteers can receive regular email updates and newsletters on what is going on in the organisation, this could include upcoming events or volunteering opportunities. Managers can also provide additional information to volunteers regarding opportunities that have been changed on the system.
Finally, support can be given to volunteers on the system by giving the volunteer access to voice their concerns through a private opportunity chat room. After opportunity volunteers are able to leave feedback which allows managers to review any concerns the volunteer may have and arrange a phone call or meeting. Volunteer managers can facilitate personal development by notifying volunteers on upcoming training events that can be created as opportunities for the volunteer to book onto.
Volunteer management
Risk management
The voluntary sector is now working at a higher standard and organisations are expected to have regular risk management in place for the benefit of the volunteer and organisation. Evaluating and managing the risks in your organisation ensures that there is a reduced chance of incidents occurring while volunteers are working.
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has provided a 7 step guide on how to manage the risks of your voluntary organisation.
- Identify the risks – evaluate what the risks to your organisation’s strategies and goals.
- Analyse risk – once analysing risks it is important to consider the possibility of it happening and the impact it could have on your organisation.
- Prioritise – determine which risks bring the biggest threat to your organisation because managing the most serious risks is important.
- Determine the appetite for risks – managers should determine the risk they are willing to accept in pursuing their objectives. Each objective will bring about a different risk appetite.
- Reduce and control risks – Charities should control risks to a stand and that they are happy with.
- Give assurance – Once the key risks have been identified, assessed and are subject to controls, it’s important to make that these controls are being performed as expected.
- Monitor and review risks – Recording risks is important as it allows you to revisit and evaluate at different dates.
These guidelines have been tested and tried and are a great tool for reducing risks for your volunteers. Managing risks can save your organisation time and money and keep everyone safer and overall contribute to good volunteer management.
Supervising
Understanding what goes on within your organisation is key for developing both volunteers and the organisation. That is why it is a key responsibility for volunteer managers to supervise their volunteers and keep a record of their development and the risks that may occur.
TeamKinetic helps organisations keep up-to-date with their volunteers and monitor progression. The system gives the volunteer freedom to create their own profile and join opportunities individually. Permitting the volunteer manager to spend more time developing the organisation’s objectives and less time inputting data manually.
When supervising volunteers, what should you cover?
- Ensure the volunteer’s relationship with staff, volunteers, and anyone they work with is going well. This can be done through regular communication and providing feedback when possible.
- Inform the volunteer of any training that would benefit their development, when opportunities arise. TeamKinetics volunteer management software allows you to create upcoming training events as opportunities that volunteers can join.
- Allow volunteers the ability to provide personal feedback after they have completed an opportunity. TeamKinetic assists by giving volunteers the privilege to leave feedback on the opportunity they have signed up to on the portal.
- Provide volunteers with feedback, this goes a long way into making them feel valued and aiding their development. Similarly, managers can also leave feedback on the opportunity provided.
Meridian Swift author of “Is Making Volunteers Likable Our Objective?” writing in volunteerplaintalk, explores the importance of managing and addressing volunteer behaviour for the benefit of the volunteer, organisation and the volunteer manager. Meridian addresses the need to communicate the mission focus in order to get the best out of everyone.
One important point that Meridian made was “Ditch the idea that volunteers will stay because you’re nice to them”. Volunteers put their time and effort into helping, so they want their work to be meaningful and impactful. Therefore, when managing volunteers it is important to always provide the volunteer with opportunities that will benefit them and the organisation.
How to simply manage volunteers?
TeamKinetic provides volunteer management software for organisations that allow them to carry out these tasks without investing all their time into supervising volunteers and focusing more on their development. The simplicity of the system enables volunteers to get volunteering with little or no intervention required by the managers and coordinators.
Volunteers have the ability to add information, feedback, and check their progress on their own volunteer profiles. This is made visible to the volunteer manager, who can keep track of each volunteers progression. The TeamKinetic volunteer management software is designed to make volunteering simple and easy for everyone.
Find out how TeamKinetic has helped organisations simplify their management process and reduced time spent on micromanaging volunteers.
For more information on the Volunteer Management Software visit our website or contact one of our team members on – 01619145747
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