Secondments
Secondment in the Voluntary Sector
There is an increasing interest and commitment towards incorporating the skills and experience of staff in other sectors in helping to achieve organisational goals.
NCVO facilitates secondment opportunities between the private and voluntary sectors through its Corporate Affiliate Membership scheme.
For more information go to www.ncvo-vol.org.uk
Development Assignments
These are short placements (usually 100 hours) in community organisations for either individuals or teams. Projects are clearly defined and meet the development needs of the employee or team - usually focusing on the skills of project management, confidence, negotiation and communication.
Development assignments are a proven vehicle for improving skills and teambuilding. They should be tightly structured to enables clear targets to be set and measured. However, care needs to be taken that participation in the scheme remains voluntary.
Case study
Vounteering England
Volunteering England has a relatively longstanding tradition of engaging secondees in its work.
As an agency which initially came into being to promote volunteering in health and social care there have been natural exchanges over time with the Department of Health.
In 2001 Volunteering England was invited to submit a request to PricewaterhouseCoopers for a short term secondment to undertake a feasibility study on the potential for a VE based consultancy service. The three month secondment proved to be extremely useful for the Centre in planning potential development in this area.
The Lessons of Secondment in the Voluntary Sector
The overriding impression of secondment as we have encountered at VE is that it has a value over and above the specific outcomes of the task involved. This is a commonly shared perception within the voluntary sector.
Secondees are able to share macro and micro ideas about working practices from their own experience which can assist our thinking. They can also strongly reinforce us in observing the things which we do well.
Secondees require strong and consistent management by a clearly identified line manager, with at least the same levels of support and supervision as regular staff.
This is particularly important because the working methods of the voluntary sector often appear confusing and lacking in rigid guidelines to secondees from both other sectors - whose working practices may be more deterministic.
It is very important that the terms and conditions of the secondment are clearly defined, not only in terms of human resource issues but also in clarifying the length of the assignment , the expected targets to be met, and outcomes to be achieved.
There can be cases where a secondee gets torn between the culture of the organisation in which they are placed - and that of their usual employer.
If a secondee is returning to their usual employer this must be factored into review meetings, and in discussion about what they will be doing when they return.
The process of secondment, and the greater understanding and respect it engenders is invaluable in itself, and this is on top of the extra skills and experience it can bring to our work.
