What is Volunteer Management?

Put simply, volunteer management is the process an employer would take when they are recruiting and managing volunteers. This ranges from onboarding the volunteers, putting in place a development pathway, training and monitoring the volunteer performance. 

Volunteer management is a key component when ensuring that your volunteers are engaged with the work they’re producing. 

It’s also key for employers to consider that utilising volunteers in your charity or non-profit organisation can help you increase your capacity for tasks and reduce the overall costs of the business. 

If you need immediate support, get in touch with one of our advisors on 0800 092 3803

Steps for managing volunteers 

It’s important that you manage your volunteers, this will establish what their jobs are within your organisation. We’ve put together some of the steps you should follow when managing your volunteers. 

Define the volunteer roles in your organisation

The first stage of volunteer management is defining what roles your volunteers have within your organisation. This will help them understand what it is they need to do on a day to day basis to fulfil their roles. Not only this but you need to ensure that you have the correct documentation for your volunteers, including a volunteer agreement, that outlines the following:

• The level of support and supervision they’ll get. 
• What training they will be provided.
• Whether they’re covered by the organisation employer or public liability insurance.
• Health and safety issues.
• Expense that the organisation will cover.

For example, if the volunteers are going to be working front of house with the public they will have very different responsibilities to those who are working back of house or in administrative roles. 

Recruit volunteers 

When you’re recruiting your volunteers you should take into consideration what skills are needed for the role to be carried out, you should ensure that the volunteer is a good fit for the role. 

Onboarding your volunteers 

As with any recruitment, whether they be paid or volunteer, they need to be onboarded correctly. This is the individuals first impression of how your company works, and you need to kick it off on the right foot. 

Through the onboarding process, you should ensure that the volunteers know what the expectations of their roles are and what their responsibilities are for being a volunteer. You should ensure that it's made clear to the volunteers what training, support and development is that you can offer them.  

Establish clear lines of communication 

Regardless of how your team is classified, communication is key. Having a clear channel of communication between your employees and volunteers will help everyone understand what each other is doing. 

This can highlight any areas that need improving within your organisation this could be pointing out missing opportunities in training or offering up alternative ways to carry out tasks. 

Need expert support? 

If you’re planning to incorporate volunteers into your organisation, but aren’t sure where to begin, get in touch with one of Croner’s experts on 0800 092 3803.

Croner has a team of award-winning HR professionals who are specialists in their field. We've been helping businesses for over 80 years and our advice line is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Why not speak to a Croner expert on 0800 092 3803.