Voluntary engagement

Running a presidential campaign or setting up a corporate website, Taru Bahl finds the happy-to-helpers have really come into their own of late

It began as a missionary effort with UN volunteers travelling to war-torn areas, working with humanitarian, not-for-profit organisations like the Red Cross. Today, it has grown into a well-developed concept that benefits both the volunteer and the organisations appointing them.

In these times of recession, companies have come up with innovative ways to utilise this growing breed of the happy-to-help. While stalwarts of the social sector frown on travel agencies, fledgling media publications and NGOs saving pennies by doing away with permanent positions like ticketing, spot reporting, event management and business development, and “using” volunteers to replace them, HR pundits feel it is a good time to get serious about making optimum use of a resource pool that is only likely to grow.

The world over, volunteers have been engaged in war time and peace time efforts, chipping in with their services for sport, cultural and art-related activities. Traditionally, their services have come in handy for civic, charitable or religious events, such as organising blood donation camps, collecting funds and resources for relief operations or mobilising people for rallies. Imbued with the spirit of “doing something worthwhile”, “paying back to society” and earning “good karma”, they don’t mind passing up the big bucks.

Today, with international colleges as well as employers placing a premium on community work, students and young professionals are putting up their hands to volunteer, making it pertinent for companies to have a volunteer policy in place. For many organisations which factor in volunteers into their annual work plans, there is the conviction that the exercise has the potential of infusing their teams with a freshness that only the young and the idealistic can bring.

Moreover, from the point of view of company output, volunteers often help meet project deadlines. For instance, there was this company that had been struggling to revamp its website for a while. The internal communication team, media agency and consultants had been going around in circles till a volunteer from Pilani came and pronto, within a month, the website had a jazzy new avatar with features that none of them had even thought of. At times of crisis, when strategic help is needed and consultants often come at a pretty price, many charities with limited budgets have benefitted considerably by having volunteers on board. They come, not just with enthusiasm and skills, but also a detachment that allows them to ask probing and difficult questions. They are driven by an energy geared towards accomplishment. It’s simple: they know they are there for a few weeks/months and have to finish certain tasks. Companies can gain greatly from an energetic, deadline-oriented outlook like this.

The successful innings of a volunteer depends largely on whether the organisation utilises him/her with a clearly outlined profile and reporting system, gentle monitoring, a proper induction system, and provides access to in-house facilities facilities such as email, space to sit, familiarisation with communication channels and access to management.

US President Barack Obama’s astounding election campaign got the concept pitch perfect. His campaign is said to have had a six million strong army of volunteers who converged on Washington before fanning out across America on road shows. These foot soldiers came from all over the world at their own expense.

The spirit of volunteerism has a multiplier effect, in that, it motivates others to join in. But for that to happen, the volunteer at the end of his assignment has to feel good about “giving something of himself away”. Are we ready to ensure that? Perhaps, the Commonwealth Games, for all its negative stories, could be a starting point with its 30,000-odd army of volunteers.

(Taru Bahl is a Delhi-based freelance writer)