Terminating Volunteers When There’s Just No Other Option

You’ve mentioned your concern to them. You’ve emailed them friendly reminders. You’ve sat down with them to work out a plan for improvement. And they still skip shifts / use inappropriate language / neglect safety procedures / you fill in the blank.

You’ve followed all the recommended feedback steps and the behaviour isn’t changing. It’s negatively affecting the mission, the other volunteers, even your mental health. You’re down to the final choice. Accept the behaviour as is or terminate the volunteer. And that really isn’t a choice, is it?

But it’s hard! Many of us were raised with the saying “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”. In other words, if someone’s willing to give you their time, you accept it and feel grateful. But when a volunteer’s behaviour is such that it puts the mission, the organisation’s reputation or the health and wellbeing of clients, staff or other volunteers at risk, accepting that behaviour is like accepting the gift of a ticking time bomb.

There are times when it just makes sense to end the volunteer’s involvement.

When Is It Time to Terminate a Volunteer?

Of course, sometimes it’s obvious. No matter how thoroughly we screen volunteers, people with criminal intent can slip in. Those people, of course, need to be removed as soon as possible after the action is noted.

It’s harder when the volunteer does good work but regularly don’t show up when scheduled. Or when they’re a lot of fun to be around, but are unproductive and interfere with others’ productivity.

And what about those that have been volunteering there for longer than you’ve been alive, and fight tooth and nail every change to bring the program into the modern world? These are people who, if they are unwilling or unable to change after they’ve received feedback, can put the mission at risk.

But you need to end a volunteer’s engagement deliberately. Carefully, objectively, and by the book.

Why Every Organization Needs a Volunteer Termination Policy

Speaking of the book, if you don’t currently have a policy on volunteer termination, write one!

A well-laid-out policy can protect the organisation, provide you with objectivity, and give you the control to keep the program running smoothly. Include, at the minimum, the following:

1. What the grounds are for immediate termination. Make these specific enough to enforce, and include a “not limited to” statement, to cover less common situations.

   Here’s an example of a good line item for this section: “Any illegal act, including but not limited to theft, vandalism, or misuse of funds, equipment or materials.”

2. A list of behaviours that are deemed appropriate grounds for termination, even if they don’t require immediate firing.

3. A set of steps that will be taken in event of a volunteer being accused of an item on that second list.

   For example: informal feedback, reminder, formal feedback, warning of possibility of termination, termination meeting. Don’t just list them; elaborate on what each one looks like.

4. The documentation that will be created or gathered at each stage.

   Documentation is vitally necessary to support the termination decision in case of questions from the executive or the public, or, in rare cases, in case of court action.

5. A note on the volunteer’s right to defend themselves against or to appeal the action. Lay out the steps for them to follow and how you will respond.

6. Any internal actions to be taken during and after the termination process.

   For example, advising executive of the action, closing the volunteer’s file and making their online record inactive.

   If there is any significant rancor over the termination, you may wish to advise your legal counsel.

These are the basics of a termination policy. That policy won’t protect you, though, if you don’t follow it!

I know of a large organisation that lost a court case and had to reinstate a fired volunteer because it was determined that they hadn’t followed their policy and they didn’t have appropriate documentation.

The Importance of Documentation When Terminating Volunteers

I mentioned the critical importance of documentation.

Good documentation does a few things for you. First, it ensures that you are relying on established fact, rather than on hearsay or impressions. This helps limit the chances of bias or favouritism creeping in and, frankly, it makes you more confident in your decision.

Second, it gives you firm ground to stand on when you are speaking with the volunteer. When you have dates, times, written witness testimony it cuts the ground out from under their denials. Hard to argue with reality. Not impossible, of course, but harder!

Finally, it will swing a judge’s decision your way in the rare but not unheard of case when a volunteer takes the organisation to court.

By being able to show exactly what happened when, with witnesses or other evidence, you are able to prove to the court that your decision was justified.

By keeping notes and copies of correspondence at each stage of the process, you can show that you had followed appropriate and objective actions to correct the behaviour prior to making the decision to end the volunteer’s involvement.

Protecting Your Volunteer Program

Terminating a volunteer is one of the most unpleasant things a leader of volunteers has to do.

One of the few things worse is watching your volunteer program implode because other volunteers are quitting, staff are unhappy, and clients are losing trust.

No one likes to let a volunteer go, but sometimes there’s just no other option.