VOLUNTEERS NE are {ree (nrcomemmoremrmanea “To give and not to count the cost. To labour and not to ask for any reward.” (St Ignatius Loyola) Volunteers are seen as cheap labour because they do not receive a cheque at the end of each month, but sometimes their cost, and with it their value, is overlooked. By Male ea of [ek cree aren Sighs ones ylta tre on Fog yng emg of Shs shuts fen connate sey the ho hve Gone wl ot the athe = Th Pi of Wales pop Yo doy Svan tk spelt. agen hatioce sey agers = feed pay sup nd 8 ge el D racet v iy Sin EAN Twa tom he ris Rep cops A py of mang Pear ab ‘ment in eaing by volunteer in the community snd by informal cares There. are concems about these develop rents. They rest on the ideal of greater involvement by ordinary people in- meet their needs jointly and in eating for others Cites, however, see that this may lead 10 exploitation of earers who may’ have no choice but to become involved because there are m0 suitable services to provide an alternative, It seems likely that there will be dilferental reliance on. and exphitation of, women 10 provide cheap care Moreover, there is doubt whether there will scully be resources in many communities to meet the needs which ext In fat, community fare may mean greater presure onthe communities which ae lest ble to care. Another important isue i the cost of providing services which involve volunteers and informal cares ‘Most people asume that volunteering is hound to be costetfectve because since voluncers ate not paid. a service using them must be cheaper than one which does not el fon volunteers. As wel a tis their commit rent, enthusiasm and the wide range of skill and experience that can be attracted, can enhance a eric considerably However. problems also ext in organising a service which invohes even quite a modest eqn cont swell as benefits Examining the balance of oss and effective res helps to identify some of the reales of ‘ommunty care and to choose the best was of ‘developing and organising services. ‘Assn the costeffetveness of volunteer of volunteer labour, so there will be services involves considering the costs of providing, the service using. volunteers; the Pffectveness of that service in meeting. your aims; and, usualy, costs must be compared with those of other ways of meeting those aims Five types of cost may be relevant (@ Direct expenditures, such volunteers expenses or speci clothing (i any is wed) can tedirectly assessed asa money cost © Integrated costs, which are part of other activities. For example, the cost of organising Nolunteers wil often be lost in the total staf udminstrative and overhead costs of a serie @ Intangible costs may be hard to asses at al How to decide what is lst because a ful. trained person isnot availble is one example Paid staff can be dvected fo work in certain ways but with volunteers, often compromises Imvst be mae between ideal provision and what you are offered by the volunteer or informal faer, whose freedom not to volunteer Kimi thedemands you can make, Obviously this is a cost {© Appropriate levels of cost. For example, ate mileage rates paid to volunteers reasonable? Is the proportion of time spent on volunteers appropriate, considering other responsbiles? So mich effort may be required that detracts from more important proces. Cleat if these sorts of factors ae estimated wrongly, agencies may exaggerate the benefis of working with olunees, of may atebute 160 much OF to Te costo vounteer work. (© Special costs which may be ficult 10 jstiy because they are not usually necessary for employes. For volunteers, they may be sential, for example, ia motivating and aracting volunteers. Therefore, Gegree of personal support may be needed to keep volunteers going in diel times than would be needed for paid workers. Social clement nthe job may aso be more important to volunoers than pid work Assuming some assessment of costs pos tie they mst be adged agains eletvenes in incting the service’ aims, which will need (0 te clearly defined in operational terms 50 that, derailed assessment ofthe value of volunteering ts part of service objectives can be judged Tn looking. at cost-benefit anasis of solumtering iis important to remember that efits may aie for several differen groups people and eash group may gain diferent heneis — what beneis one may disadvantage another "Among the relevant groups ar: the organise: tion, sents, volunteers or informal eaers and Staff eta personal or professional lve Many asesiments of coseffetveness rel on acomparison with other sinilar activites or ative ways of ding things For example, saying that volunteers are a cheap way of providing 8 sence implies the question: “cheap in comparison 10 what” Making comparisons ofthis kind often leads to comparing things untae. ‘Sometimes, particularly when talking about volunteers, people talk shout a ‘saving’ when body would provide nance to do i at all vithout volute “The proper way t0 consider these circum: stances it talk about value added. What value js aed by volunteers tothe service in such ‘The value oftheir labour is one important consideration. Ther are problems about asess ing this, and some conventions have. been established (Karn, 198289) (© Asses the cost of getting that work done st the normal ates forthe jb, (@ ia volunteer has a professions qualieation ‘sil, calulate the enhanced valve ofthat in the assed rate forthe jb, but Jo ota in nsignt aveust 1 1990 [48]“People often have an implicit assumption that because people have volunteered, they will inevitably be keen and enthusiastic and motivating them will not be a problem. This isnot so. [20] wwsisht august + 1990 that enhanced rate if they ate ot using thes qualification. For example, a doctor would be Paid an unskled rate for driving someone around, but f hey tested inured people using {heir ning, ad in the enhanced rate, © Dono ale al the te spe, but the value ‘of the work done, Deeause 4 volunteer might lake longer than an employee, ether because they are les practised or because the soil lement of volunteering takes uptime unlike an «employed person, So a fair comparison ofthe ue added with the non-slunteer cost of Eettng something done is at che time a skilled employee would take to do the jb, not the less slilled rls hard-pressed volunteer. Much of the value added is intangible, a with ‘tangible costs and indirect ams, For example, ‘ounces often bring better community under standing of social or heath services tasks, oF enthusiasm and commitment hich it would be hard to get fom employed people, perticualy in routine jobs, Such things cannot be cakulated in money, bout they may be listed as ways in which volunteering may be more eflestive than conventional provision Finally. comparisons are needed of some of the problems of working with volunteer as ‘opposed to paid sta Perhaps these have come ‘up as costs Because the involve extra payments or work Firstly, recruitment, training, turnover and support. These are costs with any employee, but they may be more difficult, more costly of just different with volunteers, For example, tumover of volunces i ypclly rather quick, so recruitment and building teamwork is more ica and agencies must maintain inks with recruitment bois, such a volunteer bureau, that otherwise would not come within thet “orbit. This takes addtional ime and for, Secondly, interweaving. This i the technical term for connecting up volunteers and the service they provide withthe paid services of hich they ane-a part. Doing this is always ica, because volunteers wally donot have the time or inclination for much ievolsement in bureauracy they want to get. on and Jo things. Alo, staff often look down on, orgie low status or low priority o, volunteers and working with hem Professionals often have itfcuties in tut- ing volunees. All these things, andthe fact that volumees are often patsime, so they are less available and have to be organised on ‘complicated roas at odd hours, may mean that regular links with other services ate hard 0 plan, and interweaving them wth other evies ‘sacdificul, but eri, task Thirdly. social and pois ates. Whether volunteers can be recruited and maintained, partly depends onthe attitudes that they, nd ‘ther people around them, have tomards ‘olumeering forthe particular service. This has ‘0 elements the atitude towards volunteering in general and the attiude towards the agency (at this particular ime), Finally, motivation. People often have an implicit assumpson that because people have volunteered’. they will inevitably be Keen and enthusiast, and motivating them wll not be problem. This isnot so Responses to velunters when they approach the agency are important in maintaining Volunteers quickly retreat if they are not finyirmediately given aj todo which suits ‘hem, and especialy if they are not deal with ellcemly — often because they are a low Priory. to the professional responsible for them, they are teated ery badly ‘The ote sue about motivation isha there ate many, and various, reasons why people want to volunteer, and commitment f0 the service sony oe of them, Tr the ageney’s response does not meet their reeds. their involvement is likely 10. be sthorvined, or very dif, Sherot (Berk amstead, 183) suid the moiation of ity volunteers in yome detail and showed that & range of different motivation existed Thus volunteer effort, wheter it comes fom individuals organised within the agency or a a community response from an existing organi tion, cannot be eated as something jst to fit in, and this means inevitable costs to be Borne bythe ageney which would involve them inf work ‘The invidual and personal need of invi- als and communities must be studied and ruttred: needs and wishes among vlunters must be respected and cutvated. Only then can Volunteer effort be directed and moulded to become an eficcive par of wider activites, Fitting everyone into a national template is just not practable. Volunteers need to have their own aceds met frst and then 10 be helped to understand how they can develop the contribution that they want to make in ways which wll mos lp the service they hae joined The costs of doing so can be considerable ‘and must not he underestimated, and yet Widespread experience is that the benefits of involving volunteers Heiby in work within the sommunty can bring many benef, both tangible and intangible, and is very often extremely cost fective Tes crucial to find the right way 10 make the ‘most of that cost effetiveness, and to demon strate how costelicive volunteer for can be G Neil Kam, Money tats: a guide to sibling the te tale of volunteer tn. parts Ind 1 Joa of Vouner Admit. ton, Winer 1982 Spring 983 pple in each sition Roper Sherrott. Fy volunteers in Stephen Hatch (ed) Volunteers: patterns, meanings and motives, 1983, Berkhamsted. the Volunteer Cente, o