Interacting with one day Volunteers

One day volunteers can bring lots of benefits.  This was the outcome of a recent discussion at the Volunteer Co-ordinators’ Network. 

Some examples of one day volunteering mentioned were teams doing large maintenance projects (often through our Employee Volunteering Programme) and pretend patients needed for civil defence exercises.

There may be problems such as unmet expectations, resistance by those receiving services, and the need for closer supervision if there is no opportunity to check references.  In an emergency situation spontaneous volunteers may be more of a hindrance than a help.

Thorough preparation beforehand is vital.  Some processes which can help to ensure a good experience for the Volunteers and for those being assisted are:

Beforehand:
 Encourage Volunteers’ emotional investment – excite them!
 Check and match skills to tasks
 Clearly define the tasks to be done
 Brief appropriately, including identification of hazards

On the day:
 Welcome them warmly
 Make refreshments available
 Be available in case of problems
 Offer some form of recognition
 Thank them                                                 Ruth G.

Employee Volunteering-Observations from the front line

Employee Volunteering is the key way businesses have relationships with voluntary organisations, and Volunteer Centres play an important role in facilitating Employee Volunteering projects.  These are some of the findings of research recently completed by Dr Louise Lee from Massey University.  Other interesting facts are:

• Most employees prefer volunteering roles unrelated to their professional skills
• Overall the choice of volunteering activity tended to be driven by the needs of employees and the business rather than the receiving voluntary organisation
• The major barriers to greater staff involvement were: pressures and nature of work, lack of line managers’ buy-in, and inadequate information sharing
• Key challenges for measuring programmes included the lack of defined or measurable programme objectives, lack of time, and limited knowledge of suitable measurement practices.
• Effective employee volunteering programmes call for both business and voluntary organisations to develop the knowledge, skills, attributes and resources to meet the demands of cross-sector collaboration

The full report is available to download from the Papers page of our website.
                             Ruth G.

November Projects

November was another busy month for our Employee Volunteering Programme

• Westpac staff gardened at Orana Wildlife Park.
• ANZ staff painted two rooms for the NZ Aids Foundation.
• Capital Investment Planning Ltd gardened for the Home & Family Society.
• Staff from IAG & GE Money assisted Youthline with Christmas in the Park.
• IAG photocopied Alzheimers’ Christmas Service sheet.
• Westpac donated used clothing and children’s toys to the Salvation Army.

                                                Trisha Ockwell

Employee Volunteering Projects in October

• Christchurch Electrical Ltd is carrying out free-of-charge safety checks on donated electrical items for the Salvation Army Family Store.  Store Manager Louise King is delighted with this assistance: “Without someone to carry out these checks, the items would lie unused and a family could be deprived of the opportunity to acquire cheap safe items”.
• A team from GE Money packed brochures into 180 conference bags for the NZ Council of Social Services’ conference in Ashburton.
• There was a great response from State Insurance, Lincoln University and IAG to the Royal New Zealand Foundation’s appeal for old blankets and towels for their guide dogs and puppies.   Projects of this kind are ideal as an introduction to Employee Volunteering, and we would welcome more.     Trisha Ockwell

E.V. Projects in September and August

These are some projects our Employee Volunteer Programme has co-ordinated recently:

* Buchanan & Fletcher Ltd, Consulting Structural Engineers, provided guidance with the repiling of an old house to the Clare Frances Trust.

* Call Centre staff at OfficeMax carried out a telephone campaign for Save the Children. 

* For the 2006 Wheelchair Rugby Championships in Christchurch OfficeMax set up an office, supplied equipment and stationery, staff to run the office for six days, and provided assistance with security at the Westpac Stadium.

* Zonta South again assisted Supergrans with the despatch of their quarterly newsletter.

* Staff from State, Riccarton, collected donations for Arthritis NZ.

If your organisation would like to be involved please contact me on 03 366 2442.    Patricia Ockwell    

Employee Volunteering Projects in July

• Friends of the Theatre Royal held their annual booksale and the Royal New Zealand Navy supplied two sailors to assist with the erection of trestles and the unloading of boxes and books at the Isaac Theatre Royal.   Peter Fletcher Transport Limited also assisted with this project by providing a truck and driver to transfer the large number of books from storage to the Theatre.

• Staff from HSBC assisted on two days with the Salvation Army’s foodbank and on the third day helped with setting up a clothing sale.   Nine staff members were involved.

• A group of twenty from the Christchurch Chinese Church gardened at Orana Park on the last Saturday of July.     Trisha Ockwell