One of our volunteers is not really pulling her weight. She doesnt seem to care about her work, and has been quite disruptive on a couple of occasions. Can we get rid of her?
Hmmmm. Well, yes you can, in that (unless the volunteer could be regarded as working under an employment contract) you are not bound by employment law. However, is there really a need to take such drastic action?
If theres a problem the first step is to tak to volunteer. You should be having regular sessions where you can give feedback and ask the volunteer how they feel about their work and their day to day life in the organisation. If you create a culture of communication volunteers may bring difficulties to you well before they start to affect their behaviour.
By talking to the volunteer you can get to the root of whats wrong. Is it a training need? Perhaps the volunteer isnt aware that theyre doing anything wrong, or isnt sure how to carry out certain tasks.
She may be bored in her role. Are there any changes that could be made to her task dscription? She might simply need fresh challenges from her work.
There could be any number of valid reasons why the volunteer doesnt seem happy with what shes doing. Whatever they are, she needs to be told that theres a problem, and given a chance to change her behaviour.
If the matter isnt resolved informally, then you should resort to a disciplinary procedure. Make sure that it is clear and has reasonable steps, with a right of appeal. Using a procedure means that volunteers feel that they have at least been through some form of due process. Arbitrary dismissals cause bad feeling, and not just from the departed volunteer. If the rest of your volunteers feel that they could be dismissed at any time they are hardly likely to feel secure.
If all else fails, and the procedure has been exhausted then yes, ask the volunteer to leave If someones really not happy there then this affects everyone around them. Try not to put them off volunteering though - refer them on to the local Volunteer Bureau they may be happier elsewhere.
