Volunteers are a unique and highly valuable type of human resource, but typical HR legislation and practices are not necessarily always applicable to a volunteer group. This section focuses on the risk, ethics and liability issues related to recruiting, retaining and engaging volunteers.
Standards, Rights & Responsibilities
According to the Ontario Ministry of Labour:
- Volunteers are not covered by the Employment Standards Act, 2000.
- Under the Workplace Safety & Insurance Act, 1997, some volunteers, such as volunteer firefighters are covered, but most are not.
- Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, a worker is defined in part as being “person who performs work or supplies services for monetary compensation”. Although this definition does not include volunteers, employers still have some responsibility for the health and safety of people visiting or helping out in their workplaces.
Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement (Volunteer Canada)
What does it mean to be a volunteer under Ontario emplyment law? (Kelly Santini LLP's employment law blog for the suddenly unemployed. 2013)
Placement & Training
- A matter of design : job design theory and application to the voluntary sector - Volunteer Canada
- Sample Volunteer job descriptions - Community Sector Council Newfoundland and Labrador
- Volunteer job descriptions : who, what, when, why, how - Community Sector Council Newfoundland and Labrador
- Volunteer Placement (Linda Graff)
- Designing and structuring volunteer training (Linda Graff)
Management
- Be Careful What We Wish For! The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Volunteering
- The boundary form : a simple and powerful risk-management tool (Imagine Canada, 2010)
- Managing volunteers : balancing risk and reward (Nonprofits' Insurance Alliance of California, 2000)
- Volunteers & Risk Management for Canadian Charities & Nonprofits - Charity Village
- Volunteer Management - Volunteer Canada
- Volunteer management practices and retention of volunteers - Urban Institute (US)