Whether it’s sorting your moggie or your mortgage, planning is the key to a successful vol-

unteering venture. This may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so you don’t want to spoil it

by leaving loose ends trailing at home. This chapter outlines some of the ‘life stuff’ that may

need finalising before you go, but for more detail see Lonely Planet’s Career Break Book.

Job

Negotiating time out from work is the most important, and potentially hardest, loose end

to tie up. Bungle your approach to the boss and you could blow your volunteering dream

out of the water – unless you’ve decided that you’ll resign anyway. Planning your conver-

sation carefully is crucial, especially if you work for a company that doesn’t have a policy

on volunteering or where no precedent has been set.

Before doing anything else, do your homework. If you work for a large organisation, con-

sult your company’s staff handbook, staff intranet and human resources department to get

yourself up to speed on its leave provisions. Investigate if anyone else has taken time out

and, if so, discreetly sound them out. Find out the company’s general attitude to people

taking extended periods of leave: is it openly supportive or the reverse? Armed with this

information, you can plan your negotiation strategy accordingly.

04: tYIng up loose ends

Loose Ends

Surveying the coral reef of the Cayos Cochinos marine protected area, Honduras Photo:

http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org

Work out exactly what you’re going to ask for and what you can offer in return. Do you

want the same job once you return? Smaller companies may be able to accommodate this,

but larger ones are unlikely to unless you’re only going for a short period. Instead they will

normally only promise employment at the same level and salary. If your company won’t give

you what you want, are you willing to quit? If so, are you going to be upfront about this, or

will threatening to resign be the secret weapon that will give you leverage in your negotia-

tions? If you opt to keep your job, are you asking for unpaid or paid leave or a mixture? How

much time off do you need to volunteer? If the company doesn’t agree to the period of time

you are requesting, will you settle for less and, if so, how much less? Evaluate your worth

to the company, as this will determine how accommodating they are likely to be. Have you

worked there for long enough to prove your worth? (Many companies set two years as a

minimum requirement for negotiating extended leave.) Draw up ways in which you can be

replaced temporarily so that continuity is ensured and minimum expense incurred by the

company. In this way you will be making life as easy as possible for your boss by doing the

thinking and planning for them. Finally, put your case for how volunteering abroad is going

to benefit both your company and you: in many cases a volunteering stint teaches you skills

that are crucial in the workplace (such as communication skills, leadership and diplomacy

skills). The aim is to present your volunteering as a win-win situation.

How long in advance should you pop the question? Antonia Stokes, a conference

organiser who took a four-month break to work for Raleigh International in Namibia

(p108), found her employers wanted over a year’s notice. She says:

I would advise giving as much notice as possible about your plans, even up to a year in

advance, so they can arrange proper cover for you. Be as honest and accommodating as

possible, especially if you want your old job back.

The danger of giving plenty of notice is, of course, that you might be left out of any

forward-planning meetings and effectively replaced long before you go. To avoid this

scenario, other volunteers suggest giving only three to six months’ notice.

Amanda Allen-Toland, who volunteered with the Thailand Business Coalition on AIDS

(TBCA) as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD, p113), was fortu-

nate that her workplace was well disposed to her proposed time off:

I gave four weeks’ notice. I work for a public service agency that encourages staff

to enhance their skills in either volunteer or paid roles which can add value to the

government’ s work.

When negotiating it’s wise to stick with well-worn tactics such as listening, expressing

your wishes without being aggressive and showing that you can see things from your

employer’s point of view. Even if you’ve decided to quit if you don’t get what you want,

leaving on good terms will pay dividends in the future.

Once you’ve got agreement in principle from your employers, get it in writing. Make

sure this includes the dates of your leave of absence, how much of your time off is paid or

unpaid, what position (or level of position) and salary you’ll return to and whether your

pension or other company benefits are affected (see also the following ‘Finances’ section).

Of course, you may just decide to resign. Jacqui Pringle volunteered in Sri Lanka as an

AYAD and worked as a communications adviser for the Sewalanka Foundation (a rural

development agency). She adopted the following tactics when leaving her job:

I wanted to run straight to my boss and tell her that I would be leaving, as volunteering

overseas was something I had always wanted to do and I wasn’t enjoying my job at the

time. There could be no guarantees the placement would go ahead, though, so I put off

telling my employer just in case any last-minute hitches occurred. In the end I gave them

two weeks’ notice giving myself a week off before leaving for Colombo.

Of course, if you get wind of the fact that your company is looking to cut costs and staff,

get in first and offer to take a voluntary redundancy package and you might just leave with

a nice, fat cheque to help fund your volunteering adventure.

04: Tying Up Loose Ends:

Job