Managing volunteers in the workplace

Author: Rachel Suff

We explore the challenges faced by employers that have paid employees who volunteer outside the organisation; and employers that rely on volunteers.

Key points

  • A government survey shows that 25% of the population had volunteered formally at least once a month during 2010-11.
  • The legal status of volunteers and the duties owed to them by employers are not clear, not least because the term "volunteer" does not have universal meaning.
  • Employer-sponsored volunteering can fit in with an employer's corporate social responsibility framework and help promote the organisation as a caring employer.
  • Recruiting and motivating volunteers raises many of the same challenges as managing a paid workforce, but there are important differences.

Volunteering can be viewed from two perspectives: there is employer-sponsored volunteering (ESV), where individual employers support and/or encourage employees to take part in external volunteering activities, and there is the case where some organisations - particularly charities - rely significantly on volunteers to carry out their charitable functions.

This article looks at both sides of the volunteering equation from an employer standpoint. For ESV, it examines issues such as how to encourage more interest in volunteering on the part of employees and the kind of paid or unpaid leave afforded to those who volunteer outside the organisation. For organisations that take on volunteers, we look at some of the main good-practice considerations, such as the key differences between managing and motivating an unpaid - as opposed to paid - workforce, and important legal considerations.

How many people volunteer?

The Conservative Party launched its Big Society plan as part of its 2010 general election campaign. It envisages a society with much higher levels of personal, professional, civic and corporate responsibility and therefore links directly to volunteering.

But how deeply has the "Big Society" notion become embedded in society, and what impact has it had so far on the British public's willingness to volunteer?

The Government's 2011 citizenship survey found that 25% of people had volunteered formally at least once a month in 2010-11, a lower rate than at any point between 2001 and 2008. This is not encouraging news for David Cameron's Big Society plan.

It does not appear that the increased level of unemployment since 2008 has prompted many of those who are out of work to seek unpaid volunteering opportunities in order to "keep their hand in" or gain new skills or experience with a view to finding paid employment.

However, the 2011 citizenship survey found that levels of informal (infrequent) volunteering are considerably higher than formal volunteering (where people commit to regular voluntary work), with 55% of people having volunteered on an informal basis within the previous 12 months of completing the survey.

There is no legal definition of "volunteer". Volunteers are individuals who offer their skills or labour to an organisation (usually in the public or third sector) without being paid.

In the event of a dispute, an individual may challenge his or her volunteer status, and argue that the arrangement in question constitutes an employment contract and that he or she has employment rights.

To establish whether or not an individual is a volunteer rather than an employee, it is necessary to measure the purported volunteer arrangement against the key elements of an employment contract. The essential elements of employment are:

  • the existence of a contract;
  • that the work is done in person;
  • that mutuality of obligation exists; and
  • that there is control over the work that the individual is doing.

The areas of uncertainty in relation to volunteers are whether or not there is mutuality and if there is a contract. In a volunteering arrangement, it would be unusual for the organisation not to control the work or for the volunteer to be able to send in a substitute.

Although it is not possible to guarantee that a volunteer agreement does not amount to an employment contract, there are measures that organisations can take to increase the likelihood that individuals whom they intend to be volunteers will be held to be so, and will not be found to be employees instead:

  • The agreement, which should be simple and in writing, should be referred to as a "volunteer agreement", rather than a "contract".
  • Volunteers should have the freedom not to work and to refuse training, and duties and benefits should not be fixed or mandatory as this may indicate a contract. However, organisations do have the right to ensure that volunteers have the necessary skills to be of use to them.
  • Volunteering arrangements should not reflect the terms of employment. For example, volunteers should be entitled to be reimbursed for their expenses, but not paid for work done. The disciplinary and grievance procedures should not apply to volunteers, nor should holiday or sickness payments or other benefits. However, the organisation can insist that volunteers comply with key policies, for example on health and safety, dignity at work and confidentiality.
  • The agreement should stipulate that there is no intention for it to be legally binding.
  • A requirement to carry out a criminal records check will not affect volunteer status.

Source: XpertHR employment law manual.

Employer-supported volunteering

Employer-supported volunteering (ESV) is when volunteering by employees is promoted, encouraged and recognised by an employer. ESV fits perfectly within an employer's corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework. Increasingly, employers are recognising the potential benefits that volunteers can bring to the organisation by acting as a bridge between it and the community. A strong CSR perspective can also help build an employer's brand value in the jobs market.

Employees who are supported by their employer in their external volunteering commitments are likely to feel more positive about their employer, thus helping to boost employee motivation and engagement.

An employer that supports volunteering on the part of its employees may or may not have a formal policy in place and provide paid leave to help facilitate the volunteering activities. Some employers, such as software engineering company NDS may even develop links with local charities or community groups and encourage their staff to dedicate a small amount of free time to helping out.

Events such as the London 2012 Olympic Games will provide a unique opportunity for many employers to encourage volunteering among their workforces, although employees are under no legal obligation to do so and volunteering in this huge event may require a significant time commitment on the part of volunteers.

The XpertHR model volunteering policy explains how organisations can support employees who wish to volunteer.

Organisations dependent on volunteers

The extent to which organisations depend on volunteers varies enormously. Some organisations, such as charity WRVS (formerly the Women's Royal Voluntary Service), rely extensively on regular involvement from its large volunteer workforce.

Volunteers and salaried employees often work side by side, sometimes even carrying out similar tasks for the organisation. However, in a legal context, employers need to be careful in its approach to working with volunteers. Box 1 outlines measures that will make it more likely that individuals will not be considered employees. As the XpertHR guide to employing volunteers points out, the legal status of volunteers and the duties owed to them by employers are by no means clear, so it is important that employers are aware of the legal and contract issues affecting the use of volunteers.

In terms of motivation and retention, both permanent staff and volunteers can be motivated by the mission of the organisation - however, for paid staff there is always the possibility of using financial reward to help motivate and retain them. Remuneration is not an option in the case of volunteers, so using non-financial reward mechanisms - such as praise and recognition - to demonstrate their value to the organisation is important.

Attracting and recruiting volunteers

Informal recruitment, such as recommendations by current volunteers or "word of mouth" schemes, is a popular approach on the part of employers wishing to attract more volunteers to support the organisation.

A referral scheme can be an effective attraction tool as it typically provides potential volunteers with a realistic preview of the organisation. But organisations need to weigh up the possibility that only people with similar backgrounds may come forward if this method is over-relied upon - as with WRVS. This may affect the organisation's ability to attract a diverse mix of volunteers that reflects the local community and the organisation's service-users.

A more inclusive approach could combine "refer-a-friend" schemes with a range of more formal volunteer-attraction tools, such as advertising in the media or on the organisation's website, and promotion of volunteering opportunities at local community events.

The Management of Volunteers National Occupational Standards (PDF format, 977K) (external website) sets out the four stages related to recruiting and placing volunteers:

  • specify volunteer roles and the knowledge, skills and experience required;
  • assess with volunteers their suitability for volunteer roles;
  • place volunteers; and
  • enter into volunteering agreements with volunteers.

These specify the standards of performance that those recruiting and supporting volunteers should be working to across the UK and also form the basis of National and Scottish Vocational Qualifications for managers of volunteers.

Good people management practices

Although there are distinct differences between managing a paid, permanent workforce as opposed to volunteers, there are some common points of good practice.

The first focuses on the importance of effective people management - an activity that does not always receive adequate attention in the case of volunteers. As the Management of Volunteers National Occupational Standards states: "While the link between successful recruitment and retention is well established, volunteer management remains the most frequently overlooked building block of volunteer-involving organisations. Lack of investment, status and recognition often result in impossible demands on volunteer managers, with a high proportion of volunteers reporting dissatisfaction with their management."

This is not the case at WRVS. The organisation has developed a comprehensive policy framework to support and manage its volunteers. WRVS has also incorporated specific training content on managing volunteers into its line management training programme.

Volunteering England has developed a good-practice bank (external website), providing a range of free resources to help organisations manage their volunteers effectively.

For those organisations that wish to apply a more formalised strategy for managing volunteers, there is Volunteering England's Investing in volunteers quality standard (external website). This is the UK's quality standard for good practice in volunteer management.

The website says that if you would like to "benchmark the quality of your volunteer management and involvement, prove and improve the effectiveness of your work with volunteers and enhance your organisation's reputation, Investing in Volunteers is the ideal quality standard for you". More than 550 organisations of varying sizes have already achieved accreditation throughout the UK.

Box 2: Case study - NDS supports volunteers

NDS is a software engineering company with 5,000 employees worldwide, 700 of whom are employed across three UK sites. The company supports employees who want to become involved in community or charitable activities including, but not limited to:

  • community care work;
  • environmental work and conservation projects;
  • fundraising for community projects or charities; and
  • the administration of public events for fundraising.

NDS employees may be granted paid leave up to a maximum of two days per annum in order to assist a local charity or community project. These can be booked in a minimum of half-day blocks. For the 2012 Olympics, if the employees who have applied to volunteer are successful, the company will provide five days' paid leave.

Jane Marchant, HR consultant at NDS, says that the company encourages staff to undertake volunteering work because it is good CSR practice. It can also be a worthwhile opportunity to promote teamwork - for example, the whole purchasing department at one site spent a day out of the office redecorating a building in the local community.

Charity committees

To promote volunteering among employees, the company has set up a charity committee at each of its three sites. It also makes £5,000 per site available to support local charities. The committees are staffed by employees and, every year, each committee discusses and decides which local causes it will support and seek to forge links with - although employees' volunteering activities are not limited to these charities and can be varied. For example, one of the charities supported at the Staines site is a children's hospice while employees at the Maidenhead site give their time to maintain a playground at a special needs centre.

Despite setting up committees at each of its sites to encourage volunteering activities on the part of employees, take-up of the two days' paid leave has not been as high as anticipated.

"We imagined that there would be a 10% to 20% take-up by staff but it has been much lower, which is a shame," Marchant comments. "It's hard to know why this is, but perhaps people are motivated to support a cause only when it means something personal to them." Although the company envisaged that there may be some low-level resistance from line managers mindful of workload issues when it introduced its volunteering policy, this has not been the case. Marchant says that managers have been supportive of those employees who wish to take time off to volunteer.

Volunteering policy

NDS's volunteering policy sets out the procedure employees should follow when wishing to volunteer:

"Employees who wish to undertake volunteering work should apply in writing to their manager and include documentation from the registered charity or community organisation involved, detailing the work they wish to undertake. Employees must be able to demonstrate that they will be doing genuine volunteer work that requires them to have extra leave, and that their absence from work will not have an adverse effect on the business. The charity/organisation should confirm that they have appropriate employers' liability insurance and, if necessary, have completed a risk assessment for the work to be carried out by the volunteer."

Box 3: Case study - WRVS attracts and retains volunteers

WRVS (formerly the Women's Royal Voluntary Service) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need throughout England, Scotland and Wales. As such, it is one of the largest voluntary-sector organisations in the UK, with around 40,000 volunteers.

Relying on such a large-scale volunteer workforce presents a significant recruitment challenge, according to Chris Dobson, head of volunteering at WRVS. For example, when WRVS was formed more than 70 years ago, the majority of their volunteers were women who did not work outside the home. However, times have changed and the make-up of the volunteers has shifted.

The charity still finds that plenty of people want to volunteer and usually takes on around 5,000 volunteers annually. Dobson has noticed a slight increase in the numbers coming forward since the onset of the UK recession - perhaps because they still want to do something useful or develop new skills if unemployed, she believes.

WRVS has undergone significant reorganisation over the past three years, partly to develop a more robust framework for its volunteering workforce. It has introduced more specific roles to match volunteers with, such as "outcome coordinators" who visit older people in the community to discuss their needs. Its more creative and targeted recruitment approach also tries to link volunteers' skills with its own skills needs - for example, taking on volunteers either with existing HR skills, or individuals studying on CIPD courses and wanting to gain some on-the-job experience, to join its HR function.

Attracting a diverse pool of people

The charity also uses a variety of methods to attract potential volunteers, including local media, attendance at events, local recruitment campaigns and word of mouth. One consideration with the word-of-mouth approach is that there could be an impact on diversity if people of similar backgrounds are coming forward, says Dobson, so the organisation balances that method with more targeted approaches to attract interest from under-represented groups.

It has therefore done a lot of work over the past few years to build a more diverse reputation and image. The aim is to widen its potential recruitment pool - if volunteers are the public face of an organisation such as WRVS, and if they reflect today's diverse society, then individuals will more easily identify with it. As part of its diversity drive, the charity has taken what it calls a "segmented approach" to recruitment, developing tailored promotional material and campaigns to attract specific groups such as disabled people, younger people, retirees and those from ethnic minorities.

Managing volunteers

WRVS has a raft of good-practice policies to manage its volunteer workforce, which is now part of one overarching framework with two handbooks, one called "volunteer recruitment" and one called "managing volunteers the WRVS way".

In a lot of ways, this approach mirrors that in place for permanent staff, and the documentation sets out clear expectations for both volunteers and the organisation on what can be expected from volunteering. It includes, for example, a "treating people with dignity and respect" procedure and other specific procedures and practices.

Dobson points out that the language has to be different to that used for dealing with employees: "Apart from the legal implications, I think volunteers would be put off if our framework was too heavyweight, so the language is softer and the approach more flexible," she says. "But there still needs to be a process in place to deal with situations if a conflict occurs." The framework aimed at managers therefore covers problem-solving as well as areas such as volunteer induction, support and supervision, and retention of volunteers.

Motivating and retaining volunteers

Line managers are responsible on a day-to-day basis for managing volunteers and their role is considered key to ensuring that volunteers feel valued and supported. WRVS has therefore made a big investment in training managers to be competent and confident in this area, incorporating a one-day session on managing volunteers into its five-day management development programme.

As well as a comprehensive induction session and welcome pack for every volunteer, they now have access to a range of online learning tools covering areas such as food safety and health and safety, and a diversity module will also soon be available.

Dobson says that, even if volunteers do (sometimes inevitably, through retirement) leave WRVS, the charity wants them to leave "with a good feeling". As she comments: "We want to ensure that volunteers have a great experience with us. Motivating and retaining volunteers is all about appreciating the contribution they are making, and helping them feel valued. This could be as simple as saying 'thank you'."

Source: WRVS.