Employee experiences with volunteers

Abstract

Volunteers frequently serve public and nonprofit organizations, among them libraries, parks and recreation departments, social service groups, and religious organizations. Research on volunteers and volunteerism traditionally focuses on antecedents to volunteering and outcomes for volunteers. In this study, we attempt to build on the existing literature by examining the volunteer experience from the paid employee' s vantage point. Using a sample of employees who work alongside volunteers in animal care organizations (N ϭ 270), we examine how employees described the volunteers with whom they interact. Although these assessments were generally positive, there was considerable variability. This appears to be explained, in part, by each organization' s volunteer resources management practices.Results also indicate that employees who reported less satisfactory experiences with volunteers also reported being more stressed, overworked, and less committed to the organization, and having a greater intention to quit. Importantly, these results held up even after controlling for general job satisfaction. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed. V OLUNTEERS SERVE IN MANY public and nonprofit organizations: libraries, parks and recreation departments, social services, religious organizations, schools, public health and safety offices, community and economic development agencies, nursing facilities, emergency services, and the arts. Volunteers often fill administrative, consulting, leadership, or direct service roles. Recent Bureau of Labor statistics (2008) indicate that about 61.8 million people, or 26.4 percent of the U.S. population, volunteered through ConclusionsGiven the great extent of volunteerism in public, private, and nonprofit organizations, we set out to examine how employees perceive and are potentially affected by volunteers. Employee experiences

Exploring the Dynamics of Volunteer and Staff Interactions

“…Rogelberg and colleagues () explore similar assumptions from the perspective of the employee rather than the volunteer; they find that paid staff who report poor experiences with volunteers are more likely to feel stressed and overworked and are more likely to express turnover intentions. Their study suggests that an organization's volunteer resource management practices are key for maintaining positive volunteer‐staff relationships.…”

“…Notwithstanding the aforementioned challenges, organizations cannot ignore the dynamics of volunteer‐staff interactions, because tension between volunteers and staff leads to dissatisfaction and costly turnover in both groups (Hobson and Heler ; Kulik ; Rogelberg et al ). We argue that equipping staff to navigate daily interactions with volunteers is therefore a key component of successful volunteer involvement strategies specifically and of organizational effectiveness more generally.…”

“…Much of the literature on volunteer‐staff relationships stems from practition­er contributions, which are typically based on one person's experiences, observations, or intuitive arguments. Although this literature is valuable, we could identify very few empirical studies that increase our knowledge of volunteer and staff relationships (see Laczo and Hanisch ; Rogelberg et al ; Wandersman and Alderman ). Our study is therefore exploratory; we seek to enhance the literature in the field by providing a systematic approach to examining the dynamics of volunteer‐staff interactions and laying the groundwork for future explanatory studies.…”

Inadvertent Volunteer Managers

“…If an employee has worked with a "problem" volunteer in the past (i.e., a volunteer who was unreliable or had produced poor quality work, etc. These problems can be costly; negative relationships between staff and volunteers lead to dissatisfaction, frustration, and turnover among both parties (Hobson & Heler, 2007;Kulik, 2006;Rogelberg et al, 2010). Such prior experiences can lead to poor volunteer-staff relationships, often characterized by a lack of communication between the two groups, negative labeling, and turf battles (MacDuff, 2012).…”

Recent Trends in the Supply and Demand of Volunteers

“…The extent to which voluntary work is a complement to or a substitute for paid work has been extensively studied, with mixed results [28]- [30]. Other studies also show that individuals, independently from their role, are more likely to volunteer in non-profit associations than in other types of organization [31] [32].…”