-
What is support?
-
Why should you give support to staff and volunteers?
-
When should you provide support?
-
How do you provide support for staff and volunteers?
What is support?
Organizations depend on staff and volunteers having the conditions, information, resources, and relationships they need to contribute effectively.
Supervision is one form of support, but support goes beyond supervision.
It may include:
- A safe and accessible work environment
- Clear roles and expectations
- Appropriate training
- Equipment, technology, information, and other resources
- Good supervision
- Reasonable workload and scheduling
- Useful feedback
- Opportunities to learn and develop
- Appropriate autonomy
- Recognition
- Accessibility and accommodations
- Reliable ways to raise concerns and ask for help
- Appropriate leave, flexibility, or other support when circumstances affect someone's ability to work
Support should not be confused with making every situation comfortable or keeping everyone happy.
People still need to meet legitimate role expectations, and organizations sometimes have to make difficult decisions.
A supportive organization creates fair and workable conditions in which people know what is expected, have what they need, can communicate honestly, and can contribute without unnecessary barriers or preventable harm.
Why should you give support to staff and volunteers?
Staff and volunteers carry out much of an organization's work. Supporting them is therefore part of responsible management, not simply a strategy for increasing motivation.
Appropriate support can:
- Improve the quality and reliability of the work
- Reduce avoidable errors
- Improve safety
- Help people understand their responsibilities
- Help people learn and develop
- Identify workload, accessibility, or resource problems earlier
- Strengthen communication
- Help people raise concerns before problems become more serious
- Support retention when the role remains a good fit
- Build continuity and organizational capacity
Support also demonstrates that the organization recognizes the dignity and value of the people doing the work.
It should not be provided only because leaders expect greater effort or loyalty in return.
Support cannot substitute for basic organizational responsibilities
Recognition, encouragement, social activities, or snacks cannot compensate for:
- Unsafe conditions
- Unreasonable workload
- Unclear responsibilities
- Inadequate staffing
- Missing equipment
- Poor supervision
- Discrimination or harassment
- Lack of appropriate compensation
- Repeated expectations of unpaid or after-hours work
When those conditions exist, address the underlying organizational problem rather than relying mainly on encouragement or appreciation.
Employees and volunteers may need different kinds of support
Employees and volunteers may work toward the same mission, but their relationships with the organization are different.
Employees perform work through an employment relationship and may be assigned responsibilities within the scope of their jobs.
Volunteers generally choose whether to accept and continue an unpaid role.
Volunteer roles should be clearly defined and genuinely voluntary.
Do not assume that volunteers have less expertise than employees. Some volunteers may bring extensive professional, technical, community, or lived experience.
Support should reflect the responsibilities, risk, experience, preparation, time commitment, and needs of the particular role.
When should you provide support?
Support should be part of normal organizational practice rather than something provided only when a crisis occurs.
The type and intensity of support may change over time.
Some periods require particular attention.
When people are new
People entering a new staff or volunteer role need a clear start.
Make sure they understand:
- Their responsibilities
- Their schedule or time commitment
- Who supervises or supports them
- What decisions they may make independently
- What training is required
- How to use necessary systems and equipment
- Where to ask questions
- How to raise a concern
Provide the access, equipment, information, and introductions necessary for the person to begin contributing without unnecessary confusion.
When responsibilities change
A promotion, new project, different technology, organizational restructuring, or change in program expectations may require additional training, communication, supervision, or resources.
Do not assume that someone who performed well under the previous arrangement automatically understands the new one.
When workload or working conditions change
Periods of high demand may require:
- Reprioritizing work
- Additional staffing or volunteer capacity
- Backup coverage
- Schedule changes
- Additional supervision
- Temporary reduction of lower-priority work
Sustained overload should not be treated as an individual resilience problem.
When people are experiencing difficult personal circumstances
A staff member or volunteer may experience illness, bereavement, caregiving demands, family changes, financial difficulty, or another personal challenge.
Respond with respect and appropriate boundaries.
Depending on the situation and the person's role, support may involve:
- Leave
- Schedule flexibility
- Temporary workload adjustments
- Remote participation where feasible
- Employee-assistance or other professional resources
- Reasonable accommodations where applicable
Don't require people to provide personal details beyond what the organization legitimately needs.
During organizational difficulty or change
Funding changes, leadership transitions, restructuring, program changes, public controversy, emergencies, or other disruptions can create uncertainty.
Support people by communicating:
- What is known
- What remains uncertain
- What decisions have been made
- How people may be affected
- What support or resources are available
- When another update will be provided
Avoid false reassurance or promises that leadership cannot guarantee.
During accomplishments and transitions
Significant accomplishments, completed projects, certifications, service milestones, promotions, retirements, or other transitions may be appropriate opportunities for recognition.
Ask or learn how people prefer to be recognized. Some people appreciate public acknowledgment; others prefer private recognition.
Personal occasions such as birthdays or holidays should be handled according to individual preferences and should not become an unofficial requirement for belonging.
How do you provide support for staff and volunteers?
Support can be considered from three connected perspectives:
- A supportive work environment
- Support for the work itself
- Support for the person doing the work
Create a safe, accessible, and workable environment
The physical and digital environment affects people's ability to work safely and effectively.
Start with safety.
Depending on the workplace, consider:
- Building and fire safety
- Electrical hazards
- Clear walking and evacuation routes
- Indoor air quality and ventilation
- Adequate lighting
- Temperature
- Noise
- Ergonomics
- Sanitation
- Safe storage of equipment, chemicals, medications, or other controlled materials
- Workplace violence prevention where relevant
Correct identified hazards rather than expecting people to work around them.
Make the environment accessible
Accessibility should be considered in normal planning rather than addressed only after someone encounters a barrier.
Depending on the work, consider:
- Accessible entrances and routes
- Workstation and equipment access
- Communication accessibility
- Accessible digital systems and documents
- Restroom access
- Emergency procedures
- Reasonable accommodations where applicable
People with disabilities should have meaningful access to the work, information, facilities, and emergency procedures relevant to their roles.
Provide appropriate equipment and workspace
People need the tools required for the job.
Depending on the role, this may include:
- Computers or mobile devices
- Software and accounts
- Assistive technology
- Protective equipment
- Suitable furniture
- Secure storage
- Private space for confidential work
- Reliable internet and communication systems
Equipment should be maintained and replaced when it no longer safely or reliably supports the work.
Include remote and hybrid work
A supportive environment may extend beyond a central office.
For remote or hybrid staff and volunteers, clarify:
- Technology requirements
- Secure system access
- Communication expectations
- Working hours and availability
- Equipment responsibilities
- Accessibility
- How to obtain technical or supervisory help
Remote work should not automatically mean constant availability.
Prepare for emergencies
Organizations should identify emergencies reasonably relevant to their sites and activities.
Plans may address:
- Fire
- Severe weather
- Power or technology outages
- Medical emergencies
- Hazardous-material incidents where relevant
- Violence or threats
- Evacuation
- Shelter-in-place procedures
People should understand their responsibilities, how emergencies are reported, where they should go, and how the organization will account for people after an evacuation where applicable.
Use appropriate alarms, emergency lighting, communications systems, and backup equipment. Test and maintain them as required.
Create psychological safety
A supportive workplace also allows people to communicate information that may be difficult to hear.
Staff and volunteers should be able to:
- Ask questions
- Admit mistakes
- Ask for help
- Raise safety or ethical concerns
- Identify unrealistic workload
- Suggest improvements
- Disagree respectfully
Psychological safety does not eliminate performance or conduct standards. It allows people to communicate honestly enough for problems to be addressed.
Support the work itself
A pleasant environment cannot compensate for poorly designed work.
People need clear responsibilities, adequate resources, appropriate authority, useful information, and realistic expectations.
Explain the role clearly
Staff and volunteers should understand:
- Their responsibilities
- Expected standards
- The organization's purpose
- How their work contributes
- Relevant community context
- Decision authority
- Important procedures
- Safety and confidentiality requirements
- Where to ask questions or raise concerns
Provide training
Staff training and volunteer training should match the responsibilities people are expected to carry out.
Training may cover:
- Job or volunteer duties
- Technical methods
- Community context
- Cultural humility
- Accessibility
- Communication
- Confidentiality and privacy
- Technology and cybersecurity
- Safety
- Relevant professional or ethical standards
Update training as responsibilities, evidence, technology, or policies change.
Provide meaningful opportunities for input
Staff and volunteers may hold information that leadership does not have.
Invite their input when it can genuinely improve decisions, implementation, safety, program quality, or working conditions.
Be clear about the decision process.
Consultation does not mean that every participant has final authority over every decision.
Support initiative responsibly
Encourage staff and volunteers to identify problems and propose improvements.
When someone proposes a new approach, consider:
- What problem it is intended to solve
- What authority is required
- What risks are involved
- Whether privacy, safety, ethics, or accessibility are affected
- What resources are needed
- Whether a limited pilot would be useful
Give appropriate credit for ideas and contributions.
Apply policies fairly
Similar situations should generally be treated consistently.
Fair treatment does not always mean identical treatment.
Different roles, circumstances, legal requirements, or reasonable accommodations may justify different arrangements.
Explain important distinctions when possible so people understand the reasoning.
Provide appropriate development opportunities
Staff and volunteers may want opportunities to learn or take on new responsibilities.
Development may include:
- Training
- Mentoring
- Coaching
- Conferences or workshops
- Project leadership
- Supported stretch assignments
- Professional education
Match opportunities to people's interests, responsibilities, workload, preparation, and goals.
Not everyone wants advancement or continuously increasing responsibility.
Provide regular feedback and supervision
Staff and volunteers should have a reliable way to understand how their work is going.
Feedback should be:
- Timely
- Specific
- Connected to clear expectations
- Focused on work and behavior rather than personal worth
- Clear about what should continue or change
Make sure people also have ways to provide feedback about supervision and the organization, including confidential or anonymous methods where appropriate.
Recognize contributions appropriately
Recognition can help people understand that their contribution has been noticed.
Options might include:
- Specific verbal or written appreciation
- Public recognition when the person wants it
- Private acknowledgment
- Appropriate credit for an idea or project
- Certificates or service documentation where useful
- Development opportunities
- A reference or recommendation when appropriate
Recognition should be fair and should not consistently favor highly visible roles while overlooking administrative, technical, logistical, or behind-the-scenes work.
Manage workload and boundaries
Sustainable support includes paying attention to how much work people are carrying.
Ask:
- Are priorities clear?
- Is the workload realistic?
- Are after-hours responsibilities distributed appropriately?
- Does the person have adequate backup?
- Is leave actually usable?
- Are people expected to remain constantly available?
Chronic overwork should trigger changes in priorities, staffing, scheduling, workflow, or resources rather than simply additional encouragement.
Reimburse legitimate work-related expenses appropriately
Employees and volunteers should understand which expenses are reimbursable, what approval is required, and how reimbursement works.
Depending on the role, this might include:
- Required travel
- Mileage
- Supplies
- Meals associated with approved work travel or events
- Other authorized expenses
Do not rely on people's ability to absorb organizational costs personally when the organization has responsibility for those costs.
Support the person doing the work
Staff members and volunteers are people with responsibilities, interests, relationships, and lives outside the organization.
Treating people with dignity does not require leaders to become closely involved in everyone's personal life.
Be approachable
People should know how to reach an appropriate supervisor or coordinator when they:
- Need clarification
- Need help solving a work problem
- Have too much work
- Need an accommodation
- Encounter a safety or ethical concern
- Need to report that they cannot meet a commitment
Accessibility does not require supervisors to be available at every hour.
Establish reasonable communication expectations and backup contacts.
Respect privacy
Get to know people to the extent that they choose.
Don't assume supervisors need information about someone's family, medical history, relationships, finances, or personal difficulties unless it is relevant to an appropriate organizational process.
When personal information must be shared for leave, accommodation, safety, or another legitimate reason, protect it according to applicable confidentiality and privacy requirements.
Respond compassionately without becoming a counselor
A person may tell a supervisor that a personal situation is affecting their work.
Listen respectfully and focus on what the organization can appropriately do.
You might ask:
Is there a work-related adjustment or support that would be helpful right now?
Depending on the situation, appropriate options may include leave, flexibility, workload changes, an accommodation process, employee-assistance resources, or another organizational support.
Supervisors should not pressure people to disclose private information or attempt to provide therapy.
Respect work-life boundaries
Staff and volunteers need time away from organizational responsibilities.
Unless the role legitimately requires on-call or emergency availability, avoid creating an expectation that people:
- Monitor messages continuously
- Respond during leave
- Work routine evenings or weekends without appropriate arrangements
- Accept additional responsibilities simply because they have previously been dependable
Leaders and supervisors influence expectations through their own behavior as well as formal policy.
Provide accessible routes for concerns
Staff and volunteers should have a way to raise concerns about:
- Safety
- Harassment or discrimination
- Retaliation
- Workload
- Ethics
- Program quality
- Supervision
- Misconduct
Provide another route when the immediate supervisor or coordinator is involved in the concern.
Support reasonable accommodations
Employees may sometimes need changes in the work environment or in how work is ordinarily carried out in order to perform essential job functions.
Supervisors should know how to connect employees with the organization's accommodation process.
Appropriate adjustments may involve areas such as:
- Scheduling
- Communication methods
- Equipment
- Technology
- Workspace
- How instructions or supervision are provided
Avoid assuming that everyone has to perform a responsibility in exactly the same way when another effective method is available.
Support people during organizational crises
When the organization is experiencing financial, operational, leadership, safety, or reputational difficulty, staff and volunteers need reliable information.
Explain:
- What has happened
- What is known and unknown
- How people's work may be affected
- What immediate changes are required
- What support is available
- When additional information will be provided
Do not ask people to demonstrate commitment by absorbing unsustainable workload, working without appropriate compensation, or ignoring legitimate concerns.
Make recognition and social connection optional
Some people enjoy celebrations, shared meals, birthdays, holiday activities, or informal gatherings. Others may prefer not to participate.
Social activities should be accessible and genuinely optional.
Participation in them should not influence whether someone is viewed as committed, cooperative, or part of the team.
Help with professional transitions when appropriate
Staff members and volunteers eventually leave roles.
When appropriate and consistent with policy, organizations may support transitions by providing:
- Accurate verification of employment or service
- References or recommendations
- Records of completed training or certifications
- Documentation of significant volunteer service
- Appropriate transition or handoff support
Leaving the organization should not automatically be treated as evidence of insufficient commitment.
Review whether your support systems are working
Periodically examine how well the organization supports staff and volunteers.
Ask:
- Do people have the resources they need?
- Is workload reasonable?
- Are safety concerns being addressed?
- Are facilities and systems accessible?
- Can people obtain supervision and assistance?
- Do people know how to raise concerns?
- Are leave and boundaries respected?
- Are staff and volunteers being asked to absorb organizational costs personally?
- Are development opportunities distributed fairly?
- Are particular groups leaving at unusually high rates?
- Are support practices actually solving the problems people identify?
Use staff and volunteer feedback, supervision, exit information, safety reports, accessibility concerns, workload data, turnover, and other appropriate sources to identify patterns.
When people provide feedback, close the loop by explaining what will change, what will not change, and why.
In Summary
Supporting staff and volunteers is a fundamental organizational responsibility.
Support includes more than encouragement or appreciation. People need safe and accessible working conditions, clear roles, appropriate training and supervision, adequate resources, reasonable workload, useful feedback, opportunities to develop, reliable communication, and meaningful ways to raise concerns.
Employees and volunteers may require different arrangements because their roles and relationships with the organization differ. Volunteer participation should remain genuinely voluntary, while employment responsibilities, compensation, leave, accommodations, and other workplace requirements should be handled through appropriate employment practices.
Support for the person doing the work should also respect privacy and boundaries. Supervisors can respond compassionately to personal difficulties without becoming counselors or expecting access to people's private lives.
A healthy work environment includes physical and psychological safety, accessibility, emergency preparedness, appropriate equipment, work-life boundaries, and conditions that allow people to ask for help and communicate problems honestly.
Finally, support should not be measured by how cheerful, loyal, or permanently committed people appear. The goal is to create fair, safe, sustainable conditions in which staff and volunteers can make meaningful contributions while maintaining their dignity, health, responsibilities, and lives outside the organization.