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Oh the stories I could tell! Of course a volunteer can be "fired". Or placed in another location where their lack of worth ethic won't be a big deal.
I've found that those that were doing community service were actually some of the hardest workers.
The worst were people who signed the entire family up, kids included. They think they're doing you a huge favor by giving you 4 volunteers for your 6 person shift. In reality you get a mom updating FB and 3 kids running around and fighting OR running off to sightsee instead of working. I then put age limits on my assignments, and would always get "but s/he's REALLY mature for 7!!!" Ummm, no.
Volunteering is apparently required for some classes these days. Those groups are not very good either - they come in groups of 2 or more, and are attached at the hips with phones. (I think they text each other while standing next to each other, but cannot be sure).
Some cancel a few hours before they are supposed to start. How are you supposed to replace them? And it's not like someone died - it's "I forgot I had a prior commitment when I signed up 6 months ago, and it didn't cross my mind at any time in the past 4 weeks that you've been sending me updates and asking me to confirm that I'd be there for my shift."
Then you get the large companies who encourage volunteering. It's a great thing for the employees - they get a paid day off from work with all their friends! Even better if it's a Friday, because they can sneak outside after lunch for a "phone call" and never come back.
There were times I seriously wanted to say "What exactly did you expect this assignment to be?" Because what they gave me for work was not what I described in the position info.
That said, I've worked with some fantastic volunteers as well. I just wonder what motivates some of the others.
Can volunteers get fired ?? Yes they can as I seen it myself.
Back in 1985 I did volunteer work for the local library in my hometown of Winchester, Virginia. Working in the archives department we were quite busy since Winchester was known for the civil war and country music legend Patsy Cline and since in 1985 there was that TV movie "North and South" and that Patsy bio flick "Sweet Dreams" both of which drew many people to Winchester enough so that the library had to hire more volunteers. They did..they hired two named Lisa and Brian. What the library did not know was that the two were dating each other. One Saturday afternoon I was manning the desk and in comes a TV news crew from Boston's WCVB channel 5 to do a story about Winchester's role in the civil war and another crew from The Nashville Network doing a story about Patsy Cline. Needing help I paged Lisa and Brian but they never showed up. Found out why. The woman from the Nashville Network had went into the ladies room only to find Lisa and Brian totally nude and having sex on the floor. Lisa & Brian were both fired.
I volunteer at a place where most of the other volunteers are over 60, like me. There are a lot of jobs to do and it is not the kind of place to stand around and wonder what to do next. Most of the volunteers are self-starters. A few older men who volunteer are NOT. They would be happy to sit and do nothing the whole shift. One of the older women referred to them as "eye candy" (NOT!!) - cracked me up.
We do have at least one volunteer who does not work with the public due to a somewhat abrasive personality. Hasn't been fired yet though.
I would have to wonder what their motivation would be to volunteer in the first place, then, if they're doing all of this? .
Usually, the motivation is "good intentions". We all have them, but sometimes it's hard to follow through on them.
However, there are many perks to volunteering. There are also important volunteer positions that can look really good on a resume (although sadly, many employers still don't take volunteer work seriously).
In fact, my grandmother is probably the bad volunteer being described here. She is active in the church and volunteers for tons of events, however she does minimal and shoddy work because she mostly goes to socialize with her other lady friends and be out of the house since she is bored at home.
That is kind of what I've seen with many of the church volunteers that I know. I can understand why an older person might volunteer because they want to socialize (get lonely at home) but these are younger volunteers that I have seen, that do this. One of them even said "they can't fire me because I'm a volunteer".
I do a lot of volunteer work for church, school and the community. I've noticed time and again people who sign up to volunteer, but don't show up for their designated time slot, or show up and cause problems or misbehave, or act lazy, socialize and do little (or any) work and they insist they can't be fired. They actually can be fired and I've seen it happen and the person in this case was very shocked and told the group they had no right to fire her because she was a volunteer. But she had never shown up to work even one shift and so they simply replaced her with someone else.
Volunteers are not paid for what they do, but that does not mean that being a volunteer imposes no cost or liability on an employer or organization. In fact, volunteers do exactly this.
If the volunteer is injured while working, they typically will be able to claim worker's compensation. Volunteers need both training and supervision. Organizations have been successfully sued because they failed to screen and vet volunteers and did not realize the people volunteering were drug addicts, alcoholics, pedophiles, or convicted criminals who went on to use the volunteer position to engage in more wrongdoing. These are all costs that must be paid by an organization that uses volunteers.
People who agree to volunteer often reap some advantages doing so even if they aren't paid. The volunteer work enhances a resume. It may help the volunteer to network and find a job during a period of unemployment. It may lead to business opportunities for volunteers who are self-employed. One common reason for volunteering is to obtain references you can use when you apply for a paying job.
The point really is that benefit is derived by both the organization and the volunteer. As such, a commitment to volunteer is arguably a legally binding contract. Therefore, if a volunteer is asked to show up at specific hours it is reasonable to expect him/her to do so. If the volunteer is expected to do actual work during his allotted time, it is reasonable to expect the work will get done.
My wife has worked with numerous volunteers in her government job. There is a great deal of slacking that goes on and a great amount of absenteeism. People are not obligated to volunteer for anything. She simply asks that if people do volunteer that they keep their word and show up when scheduled. She asks that they do the simple work that is assigned them. Too many people are "all talk and no action" in this world. Dealing with those who volunteer, but won't follow through is a serious issue in government and public service organizations.
Of course, I also think organizations, no matter how desperate for help they are, should spend a bit of time trying to find out the volunteer's motivation before they 'hire' them. Not worth having to deal with flakes imho if you can help it.
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That's what I wish our church would do: Sit down one on one with each person, for about 5 minutes, and find out how committed they are to doing the work. We've had too many flakes and it causes problems for everyone else and, even worse, causes problems for the people we are trying to serve through our volunteer work.
maybe a simple message of..........." your cell phones can not be used when volunteering"...would weed out the ones who show up and do little.
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