Hot Topics
Responses to:
Differentiating between Volunteering and Working for Pay
Submitted 15 September 2010 by Nancy Libbey,
American Red Cross - Union County Chapter
Volunteer Services Director,
Lewisburg, PA USA
As a retired paid program coordinator who now volunteers as a volunteer
administrator (within the same organization), I can tell you that
flexibility, lack of organizationally imposed limits, and the ability to
"make my own job" have added greatly to my enjoyment of my volunteer role.
I feel like I've seen both sides of the picture, and certainly agree that it
is disrespectful to applaud volunteer contributions while downplaying the
hard work of paid staff, who may not have the choices that volunteers enjoy!
Submitted 27 January 2010 by Nazia Hossain,
Islamic Releif USA,
Alexandria, VA
Thanks, Susan.It is important to be flexible with volunteers which allows them to continue to volunteer, retention. We have to offer opportunities outside of the 9 to 5 hours. Most volunteers are either students or professionals.
Submitted 13 January 2010 by Robert Leigh, Verbier, Switzerland
Susan, much appreciate your selecting this as a hot topic. Regarding the first of the three main differences between paid workers and (unpaid) volunteers - work available - my feeling is that the position of employers is more nuanced than suggested. You state money available and labour laws as being the two main criteria applied by employers for hiring paid labour - and by extension not for recruiting volunteers. With respect to funding, care needs to be taken not to reinforce perceptions that volunteers are a free resource. Financial considerations should enter into the calculation of any employer considering involving volunteers (volunteer management, training, stipends, recognition etc). You also state that because of the finite number of paid jobs, employers seek workers who best match job requirements, implying that this criterion should not apply equally to volunteers. I am not sure all your readers would agree. With respect to labour laws in the US and elsewhere, there are indeed often provisions for unpaid workers which can impact on the decision to involve volunteers. A more constructive (and possibly controversial) discussion item would be whether the nature of work assigned to volunteers should differ from that undertaken by paid workers - or are they interchangeable? Possibly another hot topic!
Submitted 6 January 2010 by Brenda Greenberg, Northern Services Group Director of Volunteer Services,
Spring Valley, NY USA
I find more lately that people are volunteering to test out a new kind of job to see if they like it. Others are trying to get experience to put on a resume so they can get a job.
Submitted 6 January 2010 by Christine Nardecchia, City of Dublin, Ohio Volunteer Services Administrator, Ohio USA
A great and timely article for me. Am working with some staff on establishing some volunteer roles in our municipality as career path inspiration for future public servants...of any age or life stage. But the truth is - the passion has to be behind it from all sides. The passion I've witnessed here in our local government is the spirit of one community. Volunteers often tell us that the pleaure of "working along side those who serve them" is the greatest reward. It's also awesome to see the learning from both staff and volunteers. Think about a receptionist, for example, in a streets department on a winter day. Do you think s/he gets good calls from citizens? Do you think that leads to a great impression of the citizens they work with every day? For that staff member to meet positive, giving-minded citizens and work with them toward one goal changes the employee's perception of the city they serve. Or, think about the connections for outreach created by a few volunteers in a recreation department who add value to programming because of what staff learns from the citizens' needs/perspective. Further, watching volunteer learning take place about their own local government is phenominal - and the passion and pride grows. You don't hear too often from an employee, "I want to work here to learn about government services and really get to know this community." Thanks, as always for the article, Susan.
Submitted 6 January 2010 by Laura Rapp, RN, MSN, Winston-Salem, NC USA
This article is extremely timely as I work with nurses in a health ministry capacity in congregations and other agencies. I particularly like using the term Unpaid as opposed to Volunteer as the nurses and their expertise should be paid, but the congregations cannot afford it. The value added in using the term Unpaid is subtle but means more then Volunteer in my case.
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