Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

Dismissal

Volunteer exit is not always voluntary; there are times when volunteers need to be dismissed. Your agency should have a written policy that covers the reasons why a volunteer's involvement with your organization might be terminated. This policy is important because it will protect the rights of the agency, the learners, and the volunteers themselves. The reasons for dismissal and the procedures that you will follow need to be clearly laid out.

The policy and the steps you develop to carry out this policy must be given to volunteers as soon as they agree to become a part of your agency. If you have to terminate the services of a volunteer make sure the process and the reasons for dismissal are clearly explained to them.

Volunteer dismissal is never pleasant and it is better to establish methods to reduce the need for such an occurrence. Here are some ways to avoid volunteer dismissal:

• Develop effective volunteer intake and screening processes
• Give volunteers appropriate assignments
• Be clear about roles and expectations
• Be clear about rules
• Be clear about grounds for dismissal
• Provide good orientation and training
• Provide ongoing supervision and evaluation
• Address performance issues when they occur

Here are a few reasons why you might dismiss a volunteer:

• Being under the influence of drugs or alcohol while volunteering
• Theft
• Harassment, racism or discrimination
• Gross misconduct
• Illegal, violent or unsafe acts

For more information on this difficult topic, CASA Net has an informative article by Steve McCurley called "How to Fire A Volunteer and Live to Tell About It" which you can access here: www.casaforchildren.org/site/c.mtJSJ7MPIsE/b.5466409/k.E368/How_to_Fire_a_Volunteer_and_Live_to_Tell_About_It.htm.

top of page

Exit

While literacy volunteers report that overall they are very satisfied with their volunteer commitment, they will still move on for a variety of reasons. People have busy lives and many family and work commitments. They also sometimes want new experiences and challenges or they may not find their volunteer experience rewarding. Whatever the reason, despite our very best efforts at retention, over time, volunteers will leave.

When a volunteer lets you know that he or she is leaving you should try to schedule an exit interview. Conducting an exit interview can allow you and the volunteer to have a sense of closure and it can be the perfect opportunity for you to identify strengths or weaknesses in your program and to identify gaps in what you are offering to volunteers.

Ideally the interview would be conducted in person, but time or distance may make that unrealistic. An exchange of emails or a telephone interview may serve just as well. The purpose of the exit interview is to understand the perceptions and experiences of your volunteers. They can give you valuable and honest input to help you do a better job with the many aspects of volunteer management.

You might want to consider developing an exit questionnaire with a few simple questions. For example, you could ask questions such as these:

• Was your volunteer work meaningful and rewarding? What made it that way for you?
• What volunteer management practices currently work well? What could be improved?
• Could you suggest new ways to create a welcoming environment for volunteers?
• Did you receive enough training and support?

If you are looking for more information on this topic, the National Headquarters of St. John Ambulance produced the following information sheet on exit interviews: www.sja-ontario-cadets.org/memos/DYK_May00.pdf.

top of page

Questions for Reflection

1. What effective questions could be asked during a volunteer performance evaluation?
2. What are the most common reasons volunteers leave your organization? Is there anything you might do differently to retain them?
3. How could you adapt your recruitment, screening, intake and volunteer support process to minimize or avoid the need for volunteer dismissal?
4. Under what circumstances would you dismiss a volunteer?
5. Have you ever needed to dismiss a volunteer? What have you learned from that experience?

top of page

In Conclusion...

Community Literacy of Ontario hopes you have enjoyed our volunteer management training module. We hope it will help you to plan and implement effective volunteer management practices in your literacy agency.

Since literacy volunteers are so deeply passionate about making a difference in the lives of others, the last word will go to a literacy student:

"The literacy centre has helped me to read and write...until now, I never thought I could!"

top of page

PREVIOUS PAGE

Designed and hosted by in collaboration with CLO