Introduction “Volunteers are vital to the future of Hospice care”, as are those who manage volunteers.

The management of volunteers and acceptance of responsibilities was inconsistent across our Hospice: limited allocated line mangers; fear of managing situations and volunteers “wrong”. It was essential to develop a line manager programme, training and support as volunteer numbers increased and to effectively support our community of 900 + volunteers. The aims:

• Delegate responsibility of volunteers to departments e.g. training

• Engage volunteers at departmental level

• Develop skills to manage volunteers effectively

• Adherence to policies and procedures

Methods Multi-step approach ensured the programme was manageable:

1. Redesign and create policies and procedures, e.g. resolving difficulties, through consulting with staff and volunteers

   • Outlining responsibilities of line managers, volunteers and Voluntary Services (VS)

   • Provide clear structure to address and manage problems

2. Establish role descriptions allocating volunteer line management departmentally

3. Line manager training

   • External trainer

   • VS led sessions

4. Accessible information

   • Departmental folders

   • VS intranet page

5. Bi-monthly line manager meetings: maintain volunteer data, discuss initiatives and problems

6. Annual line managers training/updates

7. New staff inductions

Conclusion Successes:

• Clear management within agreed procedures and responsibilities

• Departmental volunteer line managers allocated

• Volunteer training and development of roles has increased due to increased knowledge and confidence of line managers working with volunteers

• Volunteer engagement and commitment has been fostered through good people management and treating volunteers fairly, resulting in increased volunteer numbers and higher retention rates

• Volunteer line managers seek advice on how to address problems and manage volunteers as opposed to expecting VS to deal with all volunteer requirements

• Reduced dependence on VS enabling focus to be on data maintenance and strategy

• Created a peer support network amongst line managers

Due to the successes and learning from the experience we are undertaking the process for remote retail managers.