Abstract:In many Western welfare states, social work services that have traditionally been provided by paid employees are being replaced by family support, community support, informal networks, and volunteering. For the field of social work, it is relevant to know what it matters to beneficiaries whether services are provided by volunteers or by paid employees. The central question of this article is therefore as follows: What are the differences between unpaid and paid social services for beneficiaries? The article is… Show more
“…Some research also recognizes that volunteers can perform certain tasks better than paid staff (and vice versa) (Brudney ; Hoogervorst et al ; Metz et al ). Volunteers may have time and capacity to provide extensive interaction or follow‐up to clients, generate a sense of empathy or concern for clientele on the part of the organization, or inspire support and confidence for the organization in the larger community.…”
Despite popular rhetoric concerning the benefits of volunteerism for public and nonprofit organizations, the use and management of volunteers to assist in the delivery of services is uneven: some organizations rely heavily on volunteer labor for this purpose, while others circumscribe volunteer contributions or eschew volunteer involvement altogether. This article introduces eight dimensions of volunteer involvement-four involving organizational decisions and four regarding volunteers' decisions-that make up the overall scope of volunteer involvement in an organization. Based on a review of the literature, the article presents a conceptual framework and several research propositions concerning how organizational characteristics, volunteer management, and environmental factors affect the overall scope of volunteer involvement in an organization.
“…Some research also recognizes that volunteers can perform certain tasks better than paid staff (and vice versa) (Brudney ; Hoogervorst et al ; Metz et al ). Volunteers may have time and capacity to provide extensive interaction or follow‐up to clients, generate a sense of empathy or concern for clientele on the part of the organization, or inspire support and confidence for the organization in the larger community.…”
Despite popular rhetoric concerning the benefits of volunteerism for public and nonprofit organizations, the use and management of volunteers to assist in the delivery of services is uneven: some organizations rely heavily on volunteer labor for this purpose, while others circumscribe volunteer contributions or eschew volunteer involvement altogether. This article introduces eight dimensions of volunteer involvement-four involving organizational decisions and four regarding volunteers' decisions-that make up the overall scope of volunteer involvement in an organization. Based on a review of the literature, the article presents a conceptual framework and several research propositions concerning how organizational characteristics, volunteer management, and environmental factors affect the overall scope of volunteer involvement in an organization.
“…First, although volunteers are usually enthusiastic, workers who get paid have a responsibility to get the work done, especially for those things they are told to do to keep their jobs. Higher accountability is also demanded of the paid staff in an organisation (Smith, 2017); second, paid staff usually receive more formal training to enhance performance (Metz, Roza, Meijs, van Baren, & Hoogervorst, 2017), and are therefore empowered to help outsiders such as recipients/clients or the larger community. It is also possible that the paid staff have greater ability and more accountability for performing better quality work.…”
Section: Organisation Characteristics and Outcomementioning
Community care centres (CCCs) are widespread across Taiwan and have provided health promotion and social activities for older people in communities since 1995. The purpose of this study was to describe the status of the delivery and management of CCCs for older people, and to explore the effects of individual factors and the organisational factors on the health-related outcome of older people's participation in CCCs. The sample was taken from participants at CCCs in Taichung, Taiwan. Twenty-five CCCs participated in the study. The managers and the elderly participants of CCCs underwent face-to-face interviews. In total, 417 elderly participants and 25 chiefs completed the face-to-face interviews. The participants reported that self-reported health, sleep quality, memory, family relationships, care for health, and health literacy improved after they participated in the programme. There were no consistent organisational factors related to the outcomes. However, management style was related to sleep quality improvement and staffing getting paid was related to family relationship improvement. Policy recommendations are provided.
“…This knowledge is essential for our understanding of the current role of volunteers in long-term care and to determine the extent to which the voluntary workforce is capable of aiding the formal care system in coming decades. These insights are also important to the social work profession, as recent research shows that it does make a difference to clients whether services are provided by volunteers or paid employees (Metz, Roza, Meijs, van Baren, & Hoogervorst, 2017).…”
Across Europe, governments call for increased involvement of volunteers to shoulder some of the welfare burden. Nevertheless, there is little research into what kind of work and how much volunteers currently contribute in the long-term care services and whether this has the potential to substitute formal services. Drawing on findings from a survey of employees in nursing homes and home care districts, we examine the nature and volume of voluntary, unpaid work in the long-term care services in Norway. Our data suggest that volunteers to a very limited degree carry out work that has traditionally been considered the formal system's domain: personal care and practical help. Nearly all the voluntary, unpaid contributions in our data takes place within cultural, social and other activities aimed at promoting mental stimulation and well-being, indicating a classic specialisation of tasks between volunteers and professionals. However, there has been an expansion of the formal care system to include activities aimed at promoting well-being in recent decades. This may indicate that there is a certain level of task sharing between voluntary and formal care. Thus, social workers need to consider voluntary service provision when assessing the needs of clients.
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