Provocative title? Yes! You betcha!!!
During one of my recent trainings, I outlined my concern that we often treat volunteers as second class workers in many organisations.
One of my training participants shared recently an issue they had with a volunteer whose job it was to analyse data pulled off a database. The only issue is that he could not access the data base!
Why not?
Because he was a volunteer
Volunteers in that organisation are not permitted to access the database. Why? Because they are volunteers.
So...he had to wait for a paid staff member to pull the data off the computer. Sometimes the volunteer saw data that was slightly incorrect eg postal code entered into the wrong field or a mis spelling in city name. The volunteer could report these but not fix them. It was up to the paid staff member who may or may not have time to do fix those errors.
I suggested that the volunteer needed to have access to the database. To my thinking, such access would be more fulfilling, more efficient and produce better results. I got push back from volunteer coordinators who said that volunteers should not have access to the database because "volunteers could do a lot of damage" in this situation.
What are we saying? A volunteer is less trustworthy? Less skilled? Less able that an employee simply because they are a volunteer??
How often do I hear this sentiment that effectively says that a volunteer is a second class citizen? And from the very people who recruit volunteers?
Let me extend that situation I mentioned before.
Lets introduce "Joe" aged 55. He is passionate about preserving wildlife. Joe has turned his own garden into a nature preserve and donates money to his favourite wildlife charity. It is to this charity that he offers to volunteer. Joe also runs his own IT company.
"Sally"is an employee with the animal welfare charity. She has learnt about the database "on the job". She is not fully confident with using it. She is very busy doing multiple tasks.
Who is better qualified to access the database? The answer for that charity? Sally, of course, simply because she is an employee. I put this example forward to show how stupid this attitude that automatically relegates volunteers to number two spot. Do we really think Joe is going to do "more damage" than Sally? is he going to make more mistakes than Sally?
If the volunteer does not have the skills or exhibits behaviours that render them unsuitable that is different but refusing to open a job up to a volunteer because they are a volunteer is simply short sighted and stupid. It is time for this nonsense to stop.
How do we stop this nonsense? I believe volunteers are world changers. Lets treat them as such.
One of my training participants shared recently an issue they had with a volunteer whose job it was to analyse data pulled off a database. The only issue is that he could not access the data base!
Why not?
Because he was a volunteer
Volunteers in that organisation are not permitted to access the database. Why? Because they are volunteers.
So...he had to wait for a paid staff member to pull the data off the computer. Sometimes the volunteer saw data that was slightly incorrect eg postal code entered into the wrong field or a mis spelling in city name. The volunteer could report these but not fix them. It was up to the paid staff member who may or may not have time to do fix those errors.
What are we saying? A volunteer is less trustworthy? Less skilled? Less able that an employee simply because they are a volunteer??
How often do I hear this sentiment that effectively says that a volunteer is a second class citizen? And from the very people who recruit volunteers?
Let me extend that situation I mentioned before.
Lets introduce "Joe" aged 55. He is passionate about preserving wildlife. Joe has turned his own garden into a nature preserve and donates money to his favourite wildlife charity. It is to this charity that he offers to volunteer. Joe also runs his own IT company.
"Sally"is an employee with the animal welfare charity. She has learnt about the database "on the job". She is not fully confident with using it. She is very busy doing multiple tasks.
Who is better qualified to access the database? The answer for that charity? Sally, of course, simply because she is an employee. I put this example forward to show how stupid this attitude that automatically relegates volunteers to number two spot. Do we really think Joe is going to do "more damage" than Sally? is he going to make more mistakes than Sally?
If the volunteer does not have the skills or exhibits behaviours that render them unsuitable that is different but refusing to open a job up to a volunteer because they are a volunteer is simply short sighted and stupid. It is time for this nonsense to stop.
How do we stop this nonsense? I believe volunteers are world changers. Lets treat them as such.
