130 Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations
meeting between volunteers and the individual the agency is serving so
volunteers have an opportunity to hear from the benefi ciaries what the
efforts of volunteers mean to them. Volunteer coordinators can create a
supportive environment in which they regularly communicate with volunteers
that the agency appreciates their donations of time and effort and inquire
whether all is going well or offer them assistance.Evaluation
Performance evaluations inform volunteers about whether they are meeting the
supervisor ’ s and agency ’ s expectations. The evaluation must be job related.
Volunteers should be assessed on the tasks they perform, as well as their
contributions to the agency. Supervisors and volunteers need to under-
stand each other ’ s expectations and establish specifi c goals and objectives
to use as evaluation standards. A schedule should be developed so that the
performance evaluation takes place at regular intervals.
The primary purposes of evaluation should be to provide feedback
and develop volunteers. Sometimes, however, a volunteer does not meet
the agency ’ s expectations. Should this occur, McCurley (1993) recommends
that the following six steps be taken:1. Resupervise. You may have volunteers who do not understand the
policies of the organization, or they may be testing the rules to see
what can be expected.
2. Reassign. Move volunteers to different positions. The volunteer coor-
dinator may have misread the volunteer ’ s skills, or the volunteer
may not be getting along with paid staff or fellow volunteers.
3. Retrain. Send the volunteers back for a second training program.
Some people take longer to learn new techniques. Do not let the lack of
knowledge lead you to believe new volunteers are not motivated.
4. Revitalize. Longtime volunteers may need a rest. They may not be
aware they are burned out.
5. Refer. Refer volunteers to other agencies more appropriate to their
needs.
6. Retire. Allow longtime volunteers the dignity to resign.If these steps do not work, you will have to terminate the volunteer.
It is important to have policies in place to ensure consistent termina-
tion procedures. Supervisors should be trained in these steps and the
documentation that may be required before terminating a volunteer.