Hot
Topic Archive
February
2008
When
is a volunteer role NOT a volunteer role?
By
OzVPM Director Andy
Fryar
This
month’s hot topic has been generated following recent
events in my home town of Adelaide, which saw volunteer
managers take an unprecedented stand against a large
local council who were advertising their newly created
Volunteer Manager’s position as a voluntary one.
Here’s
a small portion of that advertisement:
The
City of Prospect is an attractive inner suburban council
of approximately 20,000 residents. The City of Prospect
currently provides a number of community, infrastructure
and environmental services that cater for the needs
of a broad range of people within the community.
Council
has recently resolved to call for expressions of interest
from suitably experienced persons who are willing
to undertake the development and co-ordination of
a volunteer development program for The City of Prospect.
The
aim of this program is to engage people who are also
willing to volunteer their time in providing assistance
and support to many areas of council's operation and
activities. The Volunteer Co-ordinator would be expected
to promote, recruit, co-ordinate and maintain a pool
of volunteers and be responsible for their training,
development, support and out-posting to the various
areas of their interest.
Although,
this is an unpaid position, the successful candidate
will enjoy other benefits and conditions as available
to paid staff of Council, these include:
~
Full volunteers insurance cover
~
Comprehensive induction and orientation
~
Training and development
~
Approved out of pocket expenses including travel allowance
~
Occupational health, safety and welfare
~
Staff code of conduct
~
Performance management
~
Invitation to Council's Volunteers Christmas function
The
reaction from the volunteer management community was
swift and universal, with the Council’s CEO receiving
many emails of protest from as far away as the United
Kingdom - with the likely result being that the Council
will reverse its original decision and now make the
role a paid one.
Firstly,
it was terrific to witness the volunteer management
community band together with one voice and make that
voice heard. When we band together we truly have a
powerful voice, and we need to find ways of doing
this more effectively both within the voluntary sector,
to government and more generally. However, that’s
not the topic for this month!
What
I did want to raise was the fundamental question of
why some volunteer management positions should only
ever be paid ones while at the same time we are quite
comfortable with others being voluntary? Where do
we draw that line - and exactly what does that line
even look like?
It’s
probably important to also mention at this juncture
that I don’t plan to
try and answer this question – rather I hope to fuel
some further critical debate around this important
issue.
Our
sector is indeed a unique one. It is unique in that
we appear to be generally comfortable having both
paid and unpaid colleagues as a part of our profession,
indeed, as proponents of the value of volunteering,
it would be hypocritical of us not to espouse the
utilisation of volunteers for this purpose. Many VPM’s
also have volunteers working directly with them in
performing volunteer management duties and are well
aware of the benefits that such roles bring.
So
why is it in a case like that above, we feel a) that
a boundary has been crossed and b) the need to make
such a strong statement against the utilisation of
a volunteer in this role?
Here
are some of the more obvious reasons I imagine you
are thinking of:
~ The council clearly have a large budget and can
afford it
~
The role is a huge one …far too big to expect a volunteer
to do
~
Other councils of similar size have a paid position
so a precedent has been set
~
Its exploitation
While all of
these are indeed valid reasons, I again ask where
we draw the line between our comfort of this being
a paid vs voluntary role and I ask you to consider:
~ What if the council had been located in a rural
area with less money at their disposal?
~
What if the role had only been responsible for 50
volunteers?
~
What if the role had been divided into three smaller
separate volunteer roles?
~
What if the council had appointed a paid person, who
themselves in turn created volunteer roles to oversee
this part of their job – would that have been acceptable?
So does the
distinction lie in one or more of the following elements?
PROGRAM
SIZE – Does the size of a volunteer program
make a difference? Should a paid person be engaged
when the number of volunteers hit some particular
milestone? Why / Why not? After all, if you can oversee
the work of 20 volunteers why not 200?
PROGRAM
COMPLEXITY – Can we make a distinction through
the work that volunteers undertake? Should a VPM position
be a paid role if, for instance, volunteers are responsible
for the care of children, but not necessarily if they
are simply ‘stuffing envelopes’?
ABILITY
TO PAY – In the case above, was it the council’s
ability to pay (and choice not to) that became the
bugbear? However, if we use this criteria, we then
need to determine what a realistic level of payment
is. Had the council offered a below award rate salary
of say $10,000 a year, would that have made things
any better?
INABILITY
TO PERFORM – Do we make the assumption that
someone who is paid to do the job can do it better
than someone who is not paid? What if you were to
volunteer your time as a Manager of Volunteer programs
in a voluntary capacity – would your performance be
any less professional?
EXPLOITATION
– Can we argue that in the cited example that the
engagement of a volunteer manager without payment
(when payment could have been made) was exploitation
of a volunteer’s time? Is this the distinction that
makes the difference? How then do we define exploitation?
PROFESSIONALISM
AND RECOGNITION – I wonder if one of the
key definitions is the less tangible or measurable
element that those of us who already manage volunteer
programs don’t feel that we are recognised enough
for the professionalism and specialised role that
we bring to our organisations? Is this a strength
or simply an insecurity?
Now far from
answering all your questions about this topic, I hope
to have actually opened a giant can of worms - and
I invite you all to add your two cents worth to this
debate.
It is an
important debate to have and I do believe that if
we are to continue to move ahead as a profession then
we need to be clear in our thinking about such matters.
Let’s hear
your thoughts!
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