About GoldStar 
Clarity about relationships
The relationship between volunteers and staff needs to be clearly
defined to avoid misunderstanding and should be kept at the
forefront of the organisation’s policies and procedures.
Many organisations have stressed the importance of ensuring that the contribution of volunteers is recognised just as equally as the contribution of paid staff.
Below are a few examples of how other organisations have accoplished this: |
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Wai Yin Chinese Society's policy is to treat volunteers as equals to paid staff |
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Wai Yin seeks to totally integrate staff with volunteers and treat volunteers in the same way as paid staff.
This is achieved in a number of ways. For example:
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The recruitment / induction process has a very strong lean towards making sure that the new volunteer really feels part of the ‘Wai Yin Family’. Whilst the organisation does have a hierarchy of Director, Managers, Project Staff, Assistant Staff in the organisation structure, all staff, volunteers and placements are equally valued and respected and are as accessible to one another as possible. It is evident from volunteers and the various student placements and New Deal work placements that Wai Yin take on, that this atmosphere makes the organisation a place people want to work in;
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By placing volunteers (in the most part) within a particular service area, each volunteer is able to build a close working relationship with a small team of staff. This helps to build trust and confidence;
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Volunteers have the opportunity to participate in the Volunteer Working Group, which aims to meet once a month to discuss any issues arising and to keep policies and procedures up to date. The Volunteer Working Group presents its report to the organisations Centre Meetings (all staff meetings happen once a month).
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