Using Volunteers
BGEN training day
25th April 2005
The volunteer programme at Kew
Belinda Parry, Volunteer Coordinator, RBG Kew
A formal volunteer programme was set up in the 60’s and 70’s, with an intern training programme. Guides programme was set up in 1991/92 with Barbara Boyle. Friends volunteer programme was started in 1991, with horticultural programme in 2003. Now have about 400 guides altogether:
- 40 volunteer guides
- 80 school explainers
- 150 friends of Kew
- 90+ horticultural volunteers
- 35 horticultural inters
- also some herbarium volunteers
Have an overall volunteer policy – produced from the National Trusts’ volunteer policy and the Volunteering England ‘Good practice guide’ and the ‘Code of good conduct’ – pact between government and volunteer groups.
All volunteer programmes have a full or part time co-ordinator.
Horticulture volunteers have a volunteer hand book – includes the volunteer policy, details on security, health and safety and practices and procedures.
All volunteers go through an induction; the guides have a 12 week induction. Horticulture don’t get so much. Provide tours of Kew, training, access to library, and Kew pass benefits (i.e. 20% off at Kew shop and 50% off at Orangery) to volunteers. Also reimburse them for travel – maximum of £5.00 return. Get a certificate with the hours thy have donated on. Have a yearly recognition evening in September for all volunteers – plus a department evening in the summer, usually a BBQ.
Horticultural interns
Students of horticulture, some from abroad for experience in botanic gardens. Linked to other institutions. Based at a unit of their choice in garden – they have 5 days a week at Kew – 4 in their unit and one study day in the horticultural school, being taught by Alex Henderson – head of school, Each receive a report and certificate at the end of the placement.
Friends volunteers
Support foundation work, through links with other department- provide support for evening events and festival programmes. Also administrative support and individual events which promote the Friends specifically. Also provide information for visitors at the Victoria gate.
Employee volunteering
Encourages corporations to give time to employees to go and volunteer in their communities. Lloyds TSB workers in city. Volunteers day for team building exercise. Planted bulbs and washed pots, had a tour of the garden after. Repeat visit as well – weeding azaleas. Could be a revenue maker – as a garden can charge for holding and facilitating team building events.
Horticultural volunteers
2003 pilot scheme
- steady demand by people offering services in garden
- 5 festivals offered in garden – seasonal plus orchid.
- change in attitude to volunteers- at first the horticulture team was very against it as they saw it as a threat to their employment
- attitudes changes e.g. with the organisation ‘Volunteering England’ providing guidelines about the role of the volunteer. Also as they have been successful in other programmes within Kew.
- chance to review Kew’s policy
- talked to staff in groups of 10 -12, listened to their concerns and answered their questions
- put all common concerns in an FAQ and had it included in Vista, Kew’s staff newsletter, so that all staff could see it, also put it on the intranet
- piloted from July for 8 months – 73 people were involved, each committed to one day per week with hours to suit themselves.
- arboretum has one group of volunteers, other areas might have individuals – both systems work fine.
- reviewed progress half way through and at end – report on findings and feedback from participants and staff.
Findings of report
- 100% of staff at end were in favour
- over 70% of volunteers were still in places after 8 months
- large pool of volunteers in the community
- From July 2003 – Feb 2004 – 7000 volunteers hours had been donated.
- From July 2003 – now, 20 000 volunteer hours.
- Estimated value of volunteers is £175,000 per year
- volunteer value: Kew funding is 5:1
Why people volunteer
- to provide support to Kew
- relax
- learn
- have some social interactions
- support a career change
- rehabilitation and long term unemployed
- increase employment prospects
- behind scenes access
- new experience
Why Kew uses volunteers
- demand for places (from staff and volunteers)
- fits with corporate targets
- resources support public capacity building
- staff development – the creation of opportunities to manage people etc
- increase staff morale with inclusivity and diversity
- increase transparency & communication with the general public
- supports government policy on volunteering – millennium volunteers scheme, with the 18-24 year olds recognition scheme – 130 000 people have been through.
Challenges
- cost finding for coordinators – costs for travel reimbursements, uniform (fleece, sweatshirt, trousers), training e.g. manual handling, tea & coffee, celebration events, not all areas have budgets for these things.
- space is the biggest limiting factor – cannot have any more than 100 volunteers in horticulture
- recruitment – need further diversity and to get ethnic communities involved
- on going support
- retention and monitoring – due to investment. Training days for staff, exit form when they leave
- review once a year
- reliance on volunteers, some staff getting very reliant on the help that volunteers provide- still looking at how to deal with this in the long term.
- different situations, sometimes challenging volunteers, discussion about ways to deal with (NB conference on volunteers in Chicago)
- legal issues, volunteers have no legal rights – unlike employees, biggest issues is over avoiding creating a binding contract
Year of the volunteer – event in May 2005, 300 new volunteers to control weed in Bluebell wood.
Running a volunteer guide programme
Barbara Boyle – volunteer guide coordinator, RBG Kew
Have about 40 volunteers, 50 would be the maximum that could use,
Activities
- Gate tours are the norm – volunteers run tours every day at 11.00 and 2.00 which are free to the public as part of Kew’s education work
- booked tours, groups of people visiting Kew, for example through travel companies, which costs £75 for 15 people and £10 surcharge for late bookings.
- Festival tours e.g. spring festival, woodland festival, Chihuly festival. Use posters to advertise. Christmas pudding walk last December (a tour of the garden looking for the ingredients for a traditional Christmas pudding) was very popular – picked up by media successfully.
- If the festival tours are over-subscribed, it is possible to control numbers by introducing a pre-booking system, with a cost attached. If numbers are not a problem can keep the tours free.
- May use hands-on activities with artefacts from herbarium and from the horticultural department, to show the general public.
- Brief talks e.g. in palm house, chocolate talks and had chocolate to give away free from Green and Blacks
- Roving; guides presenting and being available for visitors to talk to in particular areas – especially during festivals. This provides more opportunities to get the message out, guides might be linked to particular events e.g. orchids in Princess of Wales Conservatory.
- Guides also work on Kew’s ‘Discovery bus’ which is run for groups with mobility problems.
Operational details
Preparation is needed before festivals – the volunteers are told about the festivals in advance and come up with their own ideas. They use hands-on tables, banners, with designs and press releases to get a festival going
- As with tours there is pre-booking for groups, it also depends on the time of year – e.g. if it is Chelsea Flower Festival week,
- Volunteer co-ordinator sends out an explanation, list of available tours and booking forms to visitor groups – such as those that specialise in garden tours of the UK etc.
- All tours are about 1 hour
- Tour allocation – sheets are sent to the volunteers every month with details of what booked tours and festival tours are going on. The system is equitable as all guides get the same number.
- Also the different languages have to fit in, the volunteers are able to offer tours in French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, German, Dutch and Russian.
- If a guide cannot come in on a particular day it is their responsibility to find a replacement and swap their shift – however, this happens rarely because of the number of people in the team. It is important for the volunteer co-ordinator to create an environment where the volunteers always turn up – however, just in case there is a system of compensation for any disappointed groups
- There are 28 different guided tour themes available.
- Communication with the guides is via monthly mail outs, a newsletter, notes, question and answer memos and an availability sheet which volunteers complete to indicate when they can work each month.
- Run monthly training sessions, e.g. to disseminate festival-specific information on topics such as the evolution of flowering plants or spring bulbs
- General meetings are held 4 times a year.
Most of the volunteers are retired professionals between 40 & 70. There are 41 at the moment – one of which is on a year’s sabbatical – 7 men and 34 women.
Reasons to volunteer
- link to Kew,
- the love of plants
- desire to share knowledge, and to be with like-minded people, plus there is lots of training
- perks – annual outing and Christmas lunch, staff passes and work wear, parking permits and travel expenses are recouped, plus they have access to the resource room and library and Kew intranet.
Areas of concern
- inheriting volunteers and the difference in expectations which they may bring
- inappropriate actions – such as misrepresentation through over-enthusiasm and the expressing of persona opinions, criticisms of members of staff, exhibiting a superior attitude (compared to other volunteers), tendency to be outspoken
There is a fine line between volunteering and working as a member of staff – if they sign a contract it means they can expect a reward of money – the could possibly say that they are a member of staff at an industrial tribunal and be rewarded the minimum wage for the length of time they have been working as back pay. Therefore do not get them to sign an agreement of any kind and never ask for references – to prevent it from feeling like a job
Saying good bye is also tricky, exit policies are a must.
Keeping volunteers happy
- keeping them informed and up to date with developments in the garden
- deal with individual concerns as they arise
- use timely and accurate notes
- provide quality training for all volunteers
- treat them all equally but each differently, and be caring
- provide them with clear leadership and direction
- always say thank you
Children’s Guides
Louise Cross – acting head of education, RBG Kew
Recruitment
- word of mouth
- internet
- leaflets
- activities through Kew
Need different people for different activities – includes climbers and creepers and the Kew explorers. Most of the education volunteers will work closely with the Kew teachers – meeting and greeting school groups.
Bristol Zoo Rewards for Volunteers
Anne Lovell, volunteer coordinator
- thank on a daily basis
- keen to know what money they have raised in a day
- are included and invited to all events – staff parties, evening b-b-qs, staff quiz etc
- training often takes place around an American Supper – when a head of department will come and talk about the work of the dept. Open to all staff, but set up and designed especially for volunteers
- receive badges of recognition for 3, 5 and 10 year stints
- certificates are also awarded by the zoo director at the AGM
- receive Christmas and birthday cards
- 20% discount in the zoo shop
- ½ price food from the canteens
- free uniform of t-shirt and sweatshirt
At Bristol Zoo the volunteers come under the remit of the education department – Anne’s line manager is the head of education, not in the HR department. Volunteers receive regular training from the education department to ensure that the correct and accurate messages are being communicated.
The end of the FEDs – Chester Zoo’s radical rethink on volunteers
Stephen McKeown, Head of Education, Chester Zoo
The FEDS –were 95 volunteers inherited when Stephen took over as head of education in 1997. They were called ‘Friends of Education Department Services’ but he changed their name to Zoo Volunteers (plain English diploma course). Chester has about 250 staff and over 1 million visitors per year – most visited zoo in the UK.
1986 started volunteer scheme, held a volunteer review in 2000 and developed a volunteer policy
Around 1996 the zoo started to evolve, with more customer care and marketing. A change in manager affected volunteers.
The volunteers used touch tables with the public, lots of training was set up and volunteers were allocated to particular tables at different times. However, the volunteers persisted in providing their own materials – which had not been cleared by the zoo, and would not stay with their allocated table. The volunteers were very resistant to fitting into the zoo mission and the team work of the zoo.
In 1999 Stephen ended the volunteer scheme of 10 years
Produced a review, consultation process, focus group and so on – from this they developed the volunteer policy, approved by the zoo council. Now they are able to use this to recruit and manage volunteers – but they do recognise that there will always be a volunteer who does not respond as well as others to training.
Used to do a ‘Christmas Journal’ – which took from August to December each year to arrange – also did brass rubbing, mask making and ran an ‘education shop’ – but none of this was particularly educational. The volunteers preferred frogs to komodo dragons and the shop sold craft activities.
Evening talks were carried out – not in zoo but to groups outside of zoo. This was fine if the volunteers were properly trained and the zoo provided slides for them, but was hard to have strict quality control. The volunteers also provided office and administrative support and worked in DIY – but again this was rather out of control and hard to manage.
So, the zoo had to redefine what the task required of volunteers were and allocate the tasks to different departments, for example, Visitor Services for the ‘Christmas Journey’, Estates for those who were into DIY and working with the paid staff in education to run guided tours, evening talks and working in the library. This was to ensure that tasks that should be undertaken by a paid member of staff were turned into paid posts. Once this was reorganised, the volunteers were offered the opportunity of applying for paid posts – but none took it up. The evening talks were moved from outside to inside the zoo – more professional and controllable. Thus, of the original activities that were done by the volunteers, some activities evolved, some were taken over by paid members of staff and others disappeared.
Volunteer situation in 2005
- 2001 dealt with 80 work experience placements
- 2005 used 9 12 month placements
- volunteers work with junior groups, ages 5 – 10
- 1 volunteer works in the membership department
- others work with the fundraising department
- All 17 posts within the zoo council are voluntary.
Volunteers do not claim expenses. Specific jobs are identified and people are recruited to fulfil a certain duty. The zoo policy is not to have volunteers doing work that could be done by a paid member of staff – have to think of existing staff and their needs first.
Currently applying for funds from the Northern Development Fund – which emphasises working with and involving people from the local communities. The idea is to spread volunteers across the organisation so that they can become involved in marketing, animal husbandry and estates etc
Overall, Chester Zoo found it was important to revisit their mission throughout the development of the volunteer policy – ‘mission, vision and values’. They found that it is not volunteering per se that is bad, but the inherited system was poor.
Importantly, they discovered the value of a ‘get- out’ clause and exit policy. Now they use time limited positions of 6 moths to 1 year and agree with new recruits on exit methods for both parties.
Recruitment is through local or regional papers, applicants visit and have a chat – recruitment is a much less formal system than for paid posts.
No set reward scheme - the work is the reward. Instead, use training, social evenings, outings, free entry to zoo, access to the canteen and 25% discount in the shop as reward or recognition for the work the volunteers do – no more and no less than regular staff.
Volunteering Questions and Answers
Answers from all speakers during day, including Mark Restall, from Volunteering England
- Must look at what jobs you want volunteers to do and create a clear definition
- Can find most volunteers thought the website and volunteer centres for recruitment
- Volunteers should never be out of pocket
- Need to think carefully about who getting in to provide training
- Major costs of having volunteers is the training, uniform, and where appropriate, travel costs
- Too many organisations see volunteers as being free labour – but this is not the case, it is important to balance the cost against the value that they are brining in.
- When advertising you must remember to produce a volunteer description – not a job description, or again it could suggest some sort of contractual work which could be paid.
- Very much a 2-way relationship, it may be that people in charge of volunteers need to have training in managerial skills.
- Must maintain the distinction between volunteers and paid workers, so that there is no chance of confusion.
- If there are any changes or alterations within the team or in the work, then it needs to be explained to everyone and everyone should be involved or have the opportunity to be involved with the change
- It is important that there is a paid member of staff in charge of the volunteers - i.e. that volunteers do not mange volunteers.
- Need an exit strategy – for both parties
- The organisation has a duty of care to volunteers with regards to health and safety – although health and safety does not mentions volunteers per se, there is a duty of care to anyone who comes into contact with the business. Therefore they should receive information about health and safety within the office and there should be risk assessments for volunteer involvement. Need to take steps to reduce risks – e.g. manual handling course, clear verbal instructions about health and safety issues, signs.
- If there is going to be contact with children, the organisation needs to carry out police checks, and have a policy of taking up references, have a child protection policy and making sure everyone knows about it.
- Should follow data protection for volunteers details
- If volunteers are on benefits – anyone on benefits can volunteer, but they can’t receive income – only expenses against receipts. There are no limits on the hours they can work. Also, anyone on job seekers allowance if ok as long as they are still able to leave to get a job when one comes up.
- If you give something of material value in return for work in a working relationship it can be seen as creating a contract.
- Honorariums, one-offs, are ok but it would affect benefits as it counts as an income. If it is given every year, again it could be seen as a contract, promised money for work carried out.
- Gift vouchers and luncheon vouchers can be seen as payments
- Volunteers with disabilities – often able to receive support through social services so that the recruiter and the individual get their needs met. Disability discrimination act does not apply to volunteers but an organisation could be got under provision of services – have to treat people on an individual basis and use statutory support.
