Supervision and Evaluation
• the opportunity to learn something from the volunteers • the atmosphere between the paid staff and the volunteers in the organization Besides the above-mentioned issues, the evaluation form should also allow them to give suggestions for possible future improvements and development of the volunteer programme and the preparation of the organizational personnel for working with volunteers. They should also be able to comment on potential changes in the volunteers’ job descriptions, and give any other suggestions related to the cooperation among the paid staff, the activists and the volunteers.
Dismissing volunteers The results of the evaluation will usually show that the volunteer’s performance satisfied at least basic requirements in the given activity and that he or she obeyed the policies and procedures of the organization. Corrective actions that could follow an evaluation are requiring additional training of the volunteer, introducing horizontal or vertical changes in the volunteer job description or rotating the volunteer to another position. Only in very rare occasions, volunteers are suspended or dismissed from a volunteer programme, as the follow up to the evaluation. When signing up for a volunteer position, the volunteer agrees to respect the volunteer handbook and procedures of the organization and to perform the duties that are parts of the volunteer position. At the beginning of someone’s volunteer engagement he or she should be told about the reasons and inappropriate behaviour that could justify a dismissal. Whenever a supervisor or evaluator notices that a volunteer violated the organizational and position’s standards, the volunteer must be informed that his or her behaviour was not acceptable. The effects on the working team, the program and the organization should also be explained. A space should be
provided for the volunteer to present his or her point of view in discussion with volunteer managers and supervisors. It can happen that the event or behaviour was simply perceived differently by different persons involved. In those cases, the volunteer manager should hear out everyone involved, and try to facilitate the process of clearing up the misunderstanding. It can turn out that the reasons for the situation were not based on possible misunderstanding, but the volunteer really does not share the same values as and does not respect the policies and procedures of the organization. Usually, in this kind of situation the volunteer is not fulfilling the agreed tasks. When this happens, the volunteer manager and the volunteer’s supervisor should proceed with the issue to the organizational Executive Board. The Board brings the final decision about the dismissal of the volunteer. Different organizations have different policies and procedures and different volunteer positions require different actions of the volunteer. Possible inappropriate behaviours of the volunteer that could be reasons for dismissal in most of the civil society organizations are: • failure to comply to the organization’s policies and procedures, • representing the organization or performing the activity within the organization under the influence of alcohol or drugs, • misuse of the organization’s equipment and property, • actions that influences the organization’s image in a negative way, • mistreatment of the work colleagues (either paid employees or volunteers), • failure to satisfy the minimum standards of the volunteer performance in the assigned and agreed duties, • acting irresponsibly towards the volunteer position and the organization, etc.
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