3. How can I persuade my colleagues that our organisation would benefit from taking on volunteers? They say they are too busy.

Being too busy can be a genuine reason for not working with volunteers, but it can also be a polite way of hiding the real reasons. It could be that staff fear that volunteers could be used as substitutes for staff or that they might find it difficult to 'control' volunteers. It can be useful to organise a meeting to discuss the issues and bring these fears out in the open. Techniques such as staff talking in pairs and then feeding back to a larger group can encourage more openness.

Once you have found out what the barriers are, you can start to deal with them. A well thought out and well-written and well-understood policy can help to dispel fears. This can cover issues such as: reliability and standards of work, induction, training, support and supervision and procedures for moving volunteers to more appropriate work or requiring them to leave if necessary.

It is also important to acknowledge the skilled and complex role of paid staff who manage volunteers. This could be part of their job description. With the exception of the very smallest organisation, every organisation will probably need one person who is the main volunteer co-ordinator.

On a practical note, it is important to look at space and equipment. Volunteers will need adequate physical space to work in, and access to telephones and computers. It can cause real friction to introduce volunteers to already cramped accommodation.