Volunteer management: What support is available?

Meet Alvin – after working at Healthwatch England for several years, she is now also the lead for our national programme on volunteering, following the restructure of the Network Development Team.

“I hope the following gives you more information about the new volunteering activities taking place – and a flavour of my new role”

Why focus on volunteering?

“Volunteers have always been crucial to the delivery of Healthwatch - something we have recognised and celebrated in many ways over the years.

“Volunteering at Healthwatch is a unique experience; each person is contributing to making real change across England, as part of undertaking statutory activities within each local authority area.

“Each year we have shone a light on volunteers through Volunteers Week, Student Volunteers’ Week, and using your own reward and recognition activities and programmes.

“With over 4,000 volunteers across the country, we highlight the invaluable roles volunteers play with our awards at national conference each year.”

What can you expect from our volunteering programme?

“Healthwatch England are investing in supporting local Healthwatch volunteer management and development. Due to the unique volunteering roles across the network, we believe it’s essential to provide bespoke resources and guidance.

“We recently ran six webinars on managing volunteers remotely, attended by over sixty staff who manage volunteers. People shared how they are keeping in contact with their volunteers during the pandemic, as well as sharing different activities volunteers undertake both inside and outside of Healthwatch. Some are involved in their community response, whilst others are shielding or self- isolating. Volunteers Week was also discussed, to remind local Healthwatch how they could use national events to recognise and thank volunteers for their contribution. I’m really pleased we still celebrated volunteers this year.

“One of my reflections of the sessions was that Healthwatch staff appreciated the time and space to talk about their experiences, and valued hearing from their peers.

“As a result of the webinars, and with the help of several local Healthwatch colleagues we have produced three resources:

• Managing volunteers remotely guidance
• Volunteer role descriptions template
• Free training for volunteer’s guidance

What’s next?

Volunteer Management Survey

“We have launched the Volunteer Management Survey to gather your ideas and increase our knowledge about volunteer management within the network. We want to understand the learning and development needs of those who manage and support volunteers. Please make sure we hear from your Healthwatch.”

Volunteer Lead network

“We will be establishing a Volunteer Lead network for staff managing volunteers, so that we can:

• Share best practice and learning
• Help each other with opportunities and challenges
• Ensure our resources meet your needs.”

Volunteer management guide

“We’ll be producing a volunteer handbook, covering everything from recruiting and retaining volunteers; supervising and managing volunteers; providing a sample volunteer policy and code of conduct and much more. This resource will be shared before Healthwatch Week.”

What other support is available?

Working groups

“Our Working with Volunteers group on Workplace is a good place to share learning and ask questions.

“We acknowledge that over the last few months some Healthwatch staff and volunteers have been feeling demotivated, as they wonder when they will be able to get back to their former roles involving face-to-face events and activities with people. Please share in this group what you have been doing to keep your volunteers motivated. Our Meeting face-to-face’ guidance may help you consider how best to protect your staff, volunteers, and the public during this time.

 “It’s also been great to have volunteers as part of our working group that is helping to plan ‘Healthwatch Week’. We are expecting more volunteers to attend than previous years and will be showcasing the resources available to volunteer managers.”

Webinars

“We have placed a big focus on supporting the network with engagement. We held multiple sessions across August on engaging with people who are digitally excluded. Here we provided an opportunity to discuss how to keep collecting the experiences of people who don't have internet access using non-digital engagement techniques. Local Healthwatch shared ways which are working well, and approaches that are proving successful during COVID-19.

“In another series of online sessions with over 80 Healthwatch from across the country, in which learning and best practice was shared, we produced the ‘Top tips for engaging well with people online’ guidance.

“You can stay up to date with upcoming webinars and events which may be useful in your role in the ‘Training and events’ section of the network site.

“During Healthwatch Week, we will also be hosting a webinar for volunteer managers, as well as a session for volunteers.”

Healthwatch Annual Survey (Data return)

“Thank you to those of you who completed the Healthwatch Annual Survey this year. We will be sharing the results from the data analysis soon.

“I especially look forward to understanding how to better support volunteers across the network and contribute to the success of the volunteering programme.

“One of Healthwatch England’s priorities is to better understand the local Healthwatch approaches to Equalities and Diversity; both shining a light on good practice, whilst providing support for improvements needed. Towards the end of the year, we’ll be planning our 2021/22 work plan. This will potentially include a focus on capturing the impact made by volunteers, and how their roles can play a part in Healthwatch campaigns.”