in prep for a work preso tomorrow I ask Jaiku - what does 'supported volunteering' mean to you? (hint: there are no wrong answers)
1 year, 8 months ago.
4 comments so far
To me Supported Volunteering means that a company allows staff to take on outside activities (in the Charity sector most likely) that they eiher give paid time off, financial incentive, donation, training or a combination of them all too. For the employee, job satisfaction and either a chance to employ skills elsewhere or to get new skills (job satisfaction). For the employer a chance to have a more rounded, better trained and happy employee.
Its not good at it, no, as I work in the Public sector in the UK. It does allow it for some people (particularly the young) and there are probably other schemes that aren't well publicised, are likely to be frowned on by local line managers and probably have quotas.
I'm UK based, too. I manage the Volunteer Centre in Slough (hence my interest in the topic. I've dealt with Local Authority staff & leave time for volunteering but not with higher levels of civil service - don't know where you fall in that spectrum.
Presentation went ok today - but I came up against a issue that I did anticipate - and it's also included in your definition above. By 'Supported Volunteering' I was referring to the practice of consciously putting resources in place (usually human and usually volunteer) to allow (a) volunteer(s) to overcome a major identifiable barrier to participating in what may be consider mainstream volunteering.
An oversimplified example would be having one volunteer who's role was to help another volunteer with learning difficulties (the barrier) to complete tasks associated with a particular volunteering role. A more subtle scenario might be training 2 or 3 existing staff in a local charity shop in mentoring/befriending skills in order to ensure that a volunteer from a BME community with below average language feels comfortable and supported.
Your defn was an example of good practice with what is often termed Employer Supported Volunteering. To be honest the problem is not with your way of thinking but with the choice made a few years ago to use the term 'Supported Volunteering'. Some people refer to the practice as Assisted or Enabling Volunteering.
If it's any consolation every one of my participants in today's workshop thought as you do which suggests that the issue is with 'my' side of things and not yours ;-)
Sorry if this has been long winded but I am very grateful that you took the time to respond!
4 comments so far
To me Supported Volunteering means that a company allows staff to take on outside activities (in the Charity sector most likely) that they eiher give paid time off, financial incentive, donation, training or a combination of them all too. For the employee, job satisfaction and either a chance to employ skills elsewhere or to get new skills (job satisfaction). For the employer a chance to have a more rounded, better trained and happy employee.
1 year, 8 months ago by WaveyDavey001
thanks for the reply & good response! just out of interest, does your employer give you time off to become a more rounded person thru volunteering?
1 year, 8 months ago by waugaman
Its not good at it, no, as I work in the Public sector in the UK. It does allow it for some people (particularly the young) and there are probably other schemes that aren't well publicised, are likely to be frowned on by local line managers and probably have quotas.
Hope your presentation went well
1 year, 8 months ago by WaveyDavey001
I'm UK based, too. I manage the Volunteer Centre in Slough (hence my interest in the topic. I've dealt with Local Authority staff & leave time for volunteering but not with higher levels of civil service - don't know where you fall in that spectrum.
Presentation went ok today - but I came up against a issue that I did anticipate - and it's also included in your definition above. By 'Supported Volunteering' I was referring to the practice of consciously putting resources in place (usually human and usually volunteer) to allow (a) volunteer(s) to overcome a major identifiable barrier to participating in what may be consider mainstream volunteering.
An oversimplified example would be having one volunteer who's role was to help another volunteer with learning difficulties (the barrier) to complete tasks associated with a particular volunteering role. A more subtle scenario might be training 2 or 3 existing staff in a local charity shop in mentoring/befriending skills in order to ensure that a volunteer from a BME community with below average language feels comfortable and supported.
Your defn was an example of good practice with what is often termed Employer Supported Volunteering. To be honest the problem is not with your way of thinking but with the choice made a few years ago to use the term 'Supported Volunteering'. Some people refer to the practice as Assisted or Enabling Volunteering.
If it's any consolation every one of my participants in today's workshop thought as you do which suggests that the issue is with 'my' side of things and not yours ;-)
Sorry if this has been long winded but I am very grateful that you took the time to respond!
1 year, 8 months ago by waugaman