There has been an incredible response from people in the Hackney community to coronavirus so far, with many organisations dealing with an overwhelming amount of individuals putting themselves forward to help.
Over the last few weeks, lots of organisations have contacted VCH to ask about some of the processes they might need to have in place to enable volunteers to get involved safely.
Below we have outlined a few ways organisations can help to create a safer volunteering experience for people – from ensuring that you have a good induction in place to clear policies and procedures, and ongoing support and supervision.
- Think about your recruitment processes – whether that’s an application form, a short telephone interview or more in-depth process, we also recommend obtaining a reference for the volunteer. NCVO have some great guides here
- Go through the role, and think about what potential risks could come up. Use our draft Risk Assessment to help you understand and manage any risks related to the volunteer role
- Be clear about why and how you involved volunteers to help manage expectations – a Volunteer Policy helps here
- Effective induction is key to helping volunteers feel supported as well as giving clear guidelines on how to conduct their roles. Download our example volunteer Induction Checklist which can be adapted according to your organisations needs at this time, as well as being used for any future volunteering
- Seeking volunteers for shopping or food delivery? Our draft Volunteer Pack is specific to a shopping delivery role and can be downloaded and amended.
- Checking in with your volunteers is vital. Whether it’s a group Zoom call, or one to one check in’s, a Supervision Form outlines some of the key questions you might want to cover when check in with volunteers
Further information and advice for organisations during the coronavirus here
We’re happy to answer any questions you may have, so please contact us at [email protected] at any time.
Keep us up-to-date with what your organisations are doing online using #hackneyspirit and tagging @vchackney.