4.7. Activity 5 Feedback
Here are
some of the things that volunteer practitioners shared with us:
Some of
those things relate to knowing your volunteers and being interested in them and
listening to their needs. For example, practitioners asked people to tell them
about:
- Changes to their health status, family or other
personal commitments, employment status or other volunteering
participation – bearing in mind that these may change over time and without
notice;
- What they have been doing in their time away from
the group or organisation;
- Whether COVID-19 presents any perceived or actual
impacts on their safety, including lone working, safeguarding measures in
terms of exposure to the risk of transmitting or contracting COVID-19.
Some of the things relate directly to changes in the way
volunteering within the group or organisation. For example:
- Whether the content of the role has changed or
whether the timing or location of the role is different;
- If they will be carrying out the activity with
people they know when they return, or different people;
- Whether the way they will be asked to do the role
has changed due to COVID-19, including safety measures like social
distancing or PPE;
- Whether any changes will be temporary or
permanent and when they might be reviewed;
- Whether the timing or location of the role has
been changed.
This complex list of questions is a mix of ones
you would ask a volunteer, and ones you might anticipate being asked by
volunteers. It is typical of the back and forth of groups or organisations who
are prepared to listen to volunteers and preparing to listen to volunteers.
Thinking through what might happen in a conversation with a volunteer and all
the possibilities is part of managing risk in uncertain times. It is part of a
shift from reacting to things as they happen to proactively engage with change
through anticipating and preparing for different outcomes.