Welcome to International Project Week Nicky Adams Senior Lecturer in HR and Leadership

Volunteers and employees Lecture 4 Volunteers and employees

What is Volunteering? There are a variety of definitions, but the common threads are Volunteering involves working for no monetary gain There is an emphasis on commitment It is about willingly giving of your time, skills or service to an organisation It is NOT about giving money or material resources – that is donating Waikayi, L., Fearon, C., Morris, L. and McLaughlin, H. (2012) Volunteer management: an exploratory case study within the British Red Cross. Management Decision 50 (3). Pp.349-367.

What is Volunteering? One EU definition is “The term ‘volunteering’ refers to all forms of voluntary activity, whether formal or informal. It is undertaken of a person's own freewill, choice and motivation, and is without concern for financial gain” A definition from Finland (from volunteering agency KansalaisAreena) “all activity carried out for the public good, which is based on civic movement and voluntary action and is not paid for” http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/pdf/doc1018_en.pdf

What is Volunteering? In some cultures, volunteering is seen as part of your religious obligation In other cultures it is a secular activity Waikayi et al (2012) identify two contrasting motivators – altruism (concern for the welfare of others) and the need for recognition (from others) Self-interest is another motivator

Volunteering In Finland There are a variety of different approaches to volunteering within the EU Finland, along with other Nordic countries, applies the ‘social democratic’ model It is derived from “strong working class movements that formed an effective alliance with the middle class, involves universalism and a separation of welfare provision from the market system” This results in quite small non-profit sectors and higher levels of social welfare spending by the government http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/pdf/doc1018_en.pdf

Volunteering in Finland (2) Around 22% of the EU population volunteer; in Finland the figure is between 30-39% There is less volunteering in metropolitan areas Main areas for volunteering are social welfare, sport, religion, culture Four out of five voluntary organisations DO NOT have employees

Volunteering in Finland (3) There are more older volunteers Volunteers tend to have higher levels of education They are more likely to be employed This can potentially be a risk to the long-term sustainability of voluntary organisations

Volunteers and employees Charities use a mix of paid staff and volunteers to deliver the services that they provide Dependent on the type, size and make up of the charity, staff will undertake a variety of roles, but most often these are around management of staff and resources The balance of staff to volunteers will vary

Reasons for Volunteers Many non-profit organisations rely very heavily on volunteers This allows the organisation to use funds to do more work without spending money on salaries and associated costs Think of clubs and groups you have been involved with – many of the adults involved will have been volunteers Internationally think about natural disasters around the world – many of the rescue and health workers who go to these areas are volunteers, taking time away from their paid jobs to do this

Employees Although we talk of human capital, organisations often see employees as a cost Agency theory assumes that employees are paid the full worth of their contribution to the organisation and that if they are dissatisfied they can easily find an alternative job This is one idea which underpins the belief that shareholders have the highest risk in the relationship (Ghoshal, 2005) Ghoshal, S. (2005) Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. http://www.corporation2020.org/documents/Resources/Ghoshal.pdf

Basic Rights of Employees Article 23 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights  Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Employees and Business Ethics Employees are stakeholders, and Crane and Matten suggest that employees are often the most important resource in an organisation Managing employees can be an ethical issue – rights versus duties The term “human resources” implies that employees are competing for other resources within the organisation such as new technology, or cheaper overseas resources

Job Substitution One issue raised by the economic downturn in the UK is how the tasks get completed when costs need to be cut and head count is a casualty of this Some organisations use volunteers to support their service There is however a risk that organisations go down the route of job substitution

Job Substitution (2) This is where a paid post is replaced with a volunteer post, or where a volunteer post is created and includes activities usually associated with a paid staff role Strickland and Ockenden (2011) http://www.cypfconsortium.org.uk/UserFiles/File/job_substitution_volunteer_substitution_ockenden_strickland_2011_06_.pdf

Impact of this on Kontti? How might these issues influence the choices you make in responding to the assignment brief? In considering a sustainable future for Kontti, you might like to think about the balance of staff to volunteers and the impact this might have

To Summarise… Kontti is reliant on both staff and volunteers Sustainability is critical – what is the right balance? There are ethical considerations here as well