Third Sector magazine are today reporting that "Tim Boswell, Conservative MP for Daventry, has put forward an amendment to the legislation proposing that volunteers should be treated in exactly the same way as employees in cases where they claim to have been discriminated against."
I wholeheartedly endorse the principle of offering protection from discrimination to volunteers. There have been instances of appalling discrimination against volunteers in the past and this needs tackling. However, lets be clear that these are a tiny number in the context of over 70% of the adult population of England volunteering at least once a year. That's more than 40million people.
I therefore can't help feeling that this is a sledgehammer being deployed to crack a nut. It is, in my view, a step to legislate for a situation that hasn't been seriously tackled through proper investment by many (most?) volunteer involving organisations in good volunteer involvement and management practice.
Furthermore, I fear that this well intentioned move will simply over bureaucratise the process of engaging and managing volunteers, a process that, thanks in large part to the easy availability of CRB checks, has become more and more restrictive to the average person who simply wants to give their skills and time to the community.
I fear this amendment, if enshrined in law, will erect more barriers and cause more problems than it seeks to solve.
What do you think?
The road to hell is paved with good intentions and I fear this is one of them.
ReplyDeletePart of me (the professional one that occassionally wears a suit) says volunteers should be protected and if necessary with a big stick. The other part (the one that remembers the happiness that volunteering brings)says that volunteering can and should be a riotous explosion of spontaneous giving unrestricted by forms, bureaucracy and legislation.
I'm sure a line can be drawn. My worry is our natural tendency for solving any problem by adding in another process.
Maybe rather than legislate we should just run a big national campaign encuraging every volunteer to walk out if they are treated unfairly. Only then maybe will organisations invest properly in volunteer management - JR