The challenges of volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Although Rudolph et al. (2021) outlined how the current pandemic will affect the work and life of employees, they have overlooked the potential disruption this pandemic will have on volunteersa sizable segment of any developed economy (Volunteers, 2018)-and their volunteering experiences. Here, we define volunteering as time willingly and freely given to benefit another person, group, or cause (Wilson, 2000). We observed that volunteering has been disrupted substantially by the pandemic in our research with State Emergency Services in Western Australia, in which 96% of emergency service personnel are volunteers (Department of Emergency and Fire Services, 2019). The current pandemic has already affected the volunteering experiences of this essential segment of the Australian economy. The pandemic restrictions have disrupted the availability of emergency services volunteers to participate in face-to-face training activities and combat impending natural hazards such as bushfires, floods, and cyclones. For example, in times of disasters, additional emergency services volunteers usually come from interstate and overseas, yet such help is difficult to source due to the pandemic-imposed travel restrictions. Further, Australian emergency services should account for the possibility of hundreds of volunteers working on the front lines needing to be isolated if they become infected during the pandemic. In addition to these economic disruptions that the pandemic will likely cause for emergency services and other organizations employing volunteers, we argue that there are likely to be psychological disruptions and challenges. The challenges stem partly from the need to comply with the pandemicimposed restrictions and partly from the unique features of volunteering work.Rudolph et al. ( 2021) have discussed 10 areas, which will be most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on and extending these topics, we discuss two areas that will likely be disrupted by the pandemic for volunteers and their parent organizations: (a) leadership and (b) interactions with community stakeholders and associated challenges for volunteers and volunteering experiences. We conclude with some ideas on how we can tackle these challenges using the theories and research from industrial-organizational psychology as applied to the volunteering context. Challenge 1: Directive leadership is good for pandemic but bad for inclusivity The COVID-19 pandemic has created unique challenges for leaders managing volunteers. Rudolph et al. (2021) cited evidence suggesting that directive leadership tends to be particularly effective during times of crises such as the financial meltdowns of 2008(Stoker et al., 2019. These predictions are based on threat-rigidity hypothesis, suggesting that organizations respond to external threats such as financial meltdowns or global pandemics with actions that reflect rigidity (Staw et al., 1981). In particular, they implement directive leadership, which is based on

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Making the volunteer journey a better one with I-O psychology knowledge

“…Consequently, we encourage our I-O psychology colleagues to invest their time undertaking research to better understand the psychology of volunteering and the nature of volunteer work. Given people’s regular paid work has become more flexible and contractual, it has become more difficult for VIOs to require regular long-term commitment from volunteers (Luksyte et al, 2021). VIOs also need to adapt to the rise of informal and “spontaneous” volunteering that we have seen emerge during disasters and political campaigning (Chong et al, 2022; McLennan et al, 2022).…”

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