http://www.independentaction.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Volunteering-final.pdf
A study has concluded that the roles of volunteers are increasingly becoming marginalised as they are treated as employees and overburdened by bureaucracy as more voluntary and charitable organisations take on contracts to provide statutory and social services. This diminishes the value to volunteers of freely giving their time.
It found that there has been an exodus from large ‘corporate' agencies as they professionalised
their services and replace volunteer managers with paid staff in order to be confident of meeting their contractual requirements.
"Volunteer managers no longer welcome all comers or see it as a key part of their role to find ways in which those who come forward can be helped to find ways in which they can contribute to the work of the organisation. Instead they use formal methods modelled on the processes used to appoint paid members of staff and using tools very similar to job descriptions, person specifications and the taking up of references to try to ensure that the volunteer is equipped – often after a period of training - to carry out a specific and pre-determined function within the agency."
"Nearly half (49%) of those who were not current volunteers but wanted to get involved
said they had been put off by the degree of bureaucracy involved."
