by Margaret E. Puckett
It has been a rough winter. The bad weather and an even worse economy have taken their toll. Everyone seems to be getting just a little bit more testy than usual, and the impact on the volunteer workforce is significant!
Over the last year we have faced many challenges in our volunteer programs. Reduced funding, dwindling numbers of WWII era volunteers and a worsening economy have kept many of our volunteers from being financially able to continue volunteering. It has also kept many potential volunteers from the next generation (Baby Boomers) from being able to retire from their paid positions. Now I think we are starting to see our next big challenge in volunteer management – volunteer burn-out.
Many of us utilize volunteers in customer service roles. I’m seeing the most pronounced impact in volunteers who fill customer service roles in our organization. These individuals – all selected for these positions because of their outgoing natures and their positive and caring attitudes – are not only feeling the pressure themselves, but must deal with an ever increasing number of unhappy and stressed out customers. Because of their natures, they are generally not ones to complain. But they also present us with some of the most potentially devastating consequences if one of these potential powder kegs should happen to explode.
A distraught volunteer called me this week and presented me with a real dilemma. The volunteer is well known throughout the organization for his upbeat attitude and his gracious demeanor with patients. The volunteer had decided he needed to leave volunteering effective immediately because he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his temper under control with some of our patients. He had, in fact, had three minor verbal altercations in the last several weeks. He was devastated about what had occurred and wanted to make sure it did not happen again. I ask myself how could this have happened and why didn’t I see it coming?
We owe it to our wonderful volunteers, our organizations and the customers we support, to be more sensitive to this potential volunteer customer service burn-out issue and try to address it before it becomes an explosive one. What do we need to be looking for?
Some of the danger signals I have observed are: A sense of weariness, a sense of dissatisfaction, uncharacteristically short tempers and increased grumblings about small things.
Everyone is feeling the pressure. I know that I sure don’t have any solutions to this latest challenge, but I also know I must somehow try to find some. The health and well being of my volunteers and organization may just depend on it. Any suggestions?
Margaret E. Puckett is Volunteer Services Coordinator at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor and a featured blogger.
I think that one of the types of ‘recognition and reward’ we really need to consider is just what you describe, Margaret, which is a decompression chamber when the going gets rough. I recently talked to a former tutor who said she stopped tutoring her student when the conversation turned to the terrible experiences this new immigrant had had during exile in another country. She said “I just didn’t know what to say, or how to react. The tutor training didn’t prepare me in any way for the real test of my commitment–which was to listen to her story.” So she said, “I just quit. But I still feel bad about it.” It’s a hard way to lose a volunteer, and it left the volunteer with a very bad taste in her mouth. Programs that put volunteers in challenging environments need to build a backup system for supporting those volunteers that might include some professional counseling as part of the orientation and occasional checkins on a regular basis. This may be expensive for staff, but it is also costly to lose a committed volunteer. Even an informal networking meeting on a regular basis where volunteers can share their concerns and frustrations would be better than letting them go away mad!
Hi Margaret – Here are some ideas; maybe one or a combination of them will help.
1. Create a peer support group of volunteers and either facilitate it yourself or get someone, to discuss how they’re feeling and to solicit suggestions from one another about how to handle the stress and the tension arising from the current environment.
2. Provide frequent 1:1 support and feedback to individual volunteers; remind them them how valuable they are
3. Cdreate more flewxible scheduling so that a volunteer’s “shift” is shorter and more conventient; maybe less time/shift will reduce the building & chronic stress
4. Let them have some time off to decompress and to relax.
5. Develop new types of assignments and switch volunteers around to provide a change of pace and some variety.
6. Empower them; let them help you figure out what else would work.
Larry
I really liked Anne’s and Larry’s ideas about providing volunteers with a support network. At Literacy Volunteers of Bangor, I chair the “tutor support committee,” a group of fellow tutors that make “check-in” calls to the entire roster of tutors. Once a volunteer graduates from the training, he/she is paired up with a “mentor” from the committee to follow-up, lend a listening ear through challenges and successes, and if necessary contact a staff member to intervene in a situation. Most tutors find it to be an extremely valuable resource that helps them feel connected to other tutors and to the mission of the organization, since almost all of the work is done off-site.
Other than that, you might try planning a volunteer wellness event. Does St. Joe’s have a wellness coordinator? Consider bringing in this person, or another expert, to provide information to the volunteers. Offer healthy snacks, maybe chair massages, stretching or yoga sessions, aromatherapy, nutrition services, etc. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but showing your volunteers that you care about their health and well-being, both mental and physical, can go a long way toward retaining happy, productive volunteers. Providing take-home resources and a long-term support plans for individuals might help, too.
Just some ideas off the cuff. . .