Volunteers

Why do you need to know?

Volunteers are a crucial part of running your credit union. They can provide your credit union with specific business and development skills to fulfil short term or long term projects and operations.

The Key Points

• Volunteers provide a flexible and motivated workforce not otherwise available to a credit union with limited financial resources.
• It is good practice to put your credit union’s purpose and meaning in relation to volunteers into writing in your Policy and Procedures.
• Ideally there should be a specified employee or officer who co-ordinates the volunteers’ time and roles.

Putting into Practice

Recruiting Volunteers

Before you start:

• Be clear about the roles that volunteers would be able or allowed to do.
• Write a role description for each function, detailing what needs to be done
• Think about the qualities of the person and the skills required for the role.
• Think about the issues which might prevent an individual working for the credit union.

It would seem sensible to assume that you should not take on a volunteer who has an unspent conviction for fraud.

Recruitment

There are many ways to find your volunteers:

• Via the credit union membership.
• By word of mouth.
• Via a volunteer bureaux.
• Through local press, posters at collection points and branches, or via the web.
• Talks and presentations at community groups.

Selection

Selection is about ensuring a good match between the volunteer and the role description.  Volunteers can be selected by informal chat or interview.

It may be worthwhile asking the volunteer to complete a details form listing personal details, skills and attributes, and reasons for volunteering.

The higher the responsibility the volunteer will have the more in depth the selection process should be.

You should ask for references, which could be personal or work related and these references should be verified. In addition, if the volunteer is not a member of the credit union, identification should be requested.

Credit union membership

You cannot demand that its volunteers become members of the credit union, (except in the case of elected members). You can, however, have a policy whereby it only recruits volunteers from its membership.

Volunteers should be encouraged into membership, but this should not be a pre-requisite, particularlyif you are struggling to get volunteers. It is better to accept the skills and attributes of the individual as the first priority and work on encouraging them into membership later.

Working with Volunteers in detail

Legal status of volunteers

It is good practice to put the credit unions intentions in writing when it comes to volunteers.

Volunteer role descriptions help both parties clarify intentions and reduce the chances of disagreements.

Whilst it is natural for you to wish to treat valuable volunteers on equal terms to paid staff, care should be taken in written agreements. You should avoid detailed formal contracts as they can lead to false expectations on both sides and could be deemed to be a contract of employment in a legal dispute.

Tips on written volunteer agreements:

• Avoid words with a contractual connotation such as “contract”, “employer” “obligations”, “rights”; and use words such as “volunteer”, “role description”, “policies”, “expectations” instead.
• Safeguard against misinterpretation by adding to the end of the document wording such as: “This agreements reflects the hopes and intentions of the volunteer and the credit union, and is not contractually binding in any way”.
• Differentiate between paid employee and volunteers. Be clear about the terms and policies for volunteers and how they might differ from those of employees.
• Remember you cannot “require” anything of a volunteer. Volunteers cannot be bound by contractual obligations without being considered employees by an employment tribunal. Avoid setting periods of volunteering or using words like “required”, “contracted”.

Managing Volunteers

Ideally you should have a specified employee, officer or volunteer with special responsibility for co-ordinating volunteers. This person would manage all aspects of the volunteer workforce and provide a link between the volunteers and the Board or the credit union manager.

This person would:

• • Write the volunteering strategy in conjunction with the board
  • Write the volunteering policies and role descriptions
  • Organise the recruitment and selection process
  • Arrange the induction for volunteers into the credit union
  • Organise training where appropriate
  • Provide supportive supervision and management.
  • Manage disputes and grievances.

Remember you are not obligated to take on any volunteer who puts themselves forward, even if they are members of the credit union. Equally, if the relationship between you and the volunteer is not working for the benefit of either, you can discontinue its relationship with the volunteer. This should be done in a professional and sensitive manner.

Flexibility should be shown towards volunteers who fail to fulfil their expectations but if necessary, you may have to ask the volunteer to leave. Having documented role description will support in that process.

Paying Expenses

It is good practice to reimburse volunteers for expenses they incur while working for your credit union. However, you need to exercise caution when it comes to refunds. Paying “expenses” automatically, without justification, can be seen in tribunals as the equivalent of paying a salary. The safest course is to reimburse only actual expenses, preferably against receipts.

Create a specific procedure for making reimbursement payments and make certain that everyone knows what it is.  Examples of legitimate expenses are:

• travel to and from the place of volunteering;
• travel undertaken in the course of volunteering;
• meals taken during the course of volunteering (usually a single meal up to a certain value per day);
• postage and telephone costs if working from home; and
• childcare expenses.

Insurance

Volunteers are regarded as employees for the purposes of general and employer’s liability insurance.

Download sample volunteer documents & its policy on the ABCUL Member Resource Library here.