To think some charity shop volunteers are exploited and should be paid?

[34degreesburningbees]

There's a young man with autism at my local (chain) charity shop and he works so hard - harder than I ever did when I worked in retail. He sees it as his full time job and they work him like it is one.

He has been there for years. It seems a bit, idk, exploitative.

AIBU?

You make it sound like at charity you can just flounce off whenever you want, the resentment,emotional manipulation and dynamics of taking time off while other volunteers have more work load are still there like in paid jobs. There are volunteers who were let go for not turning up often enough it's not like that flexibility is consequence free or open. There are employees who take sabbaticals or unpaid leave. Charities want their volunteers to think they couldn't get better when in reality there are employees, self employed and freelancers with those perks. It's not the only way to have flexibility and a purpose but they exploit volunteers apprehension, lack of confidence and circumstances.

I have nothing else to say really, you are being deliberately obtuse to try and prove some sort of point probably coming from a place of privilege, that i refuse to engage with.

@YourBrightOpalSeal The point is that none of them HAVE to! They aren’t paid so responsibilities are lowered. It’s up to the charity to negotiate with volunteers. Volunteers are mostly ok with set times but of course they want flexibility.

@YourBrightOpalSeal

At charitiy shops, you can flounce off whenever you want.

As a volunteer, that's exactly what I do. If I want to take time off, I do. Whenever I want.

the resentment,emotional manipulation and dynamics of taking time off while other volunteers have more work load are still there like in paid jobs.

I'm not sure what you mean by this - are you saying that volunteers who take time off are met with resentment by other volunteers who have an increased workload as a result?

In my experience, volunteers have never, to my knowledge, been resentful of other volunteers taking holiday, and taking time off does not result in an increased workload for the other volunteers. They just do their normal workload. I've never been forced to take on the tasks of volunteers who are on holiday. The work they would do just doesn't get done until they return.

There are volunteers who were let go for not turning up often enough

If that has happened anywhere, then I agree that volunteers shouldn't be let go without the shop trying to work around it first. Charity shops naturally want volunteers who can (normally) commit as much as possible to certain dates and times, but if the volunteer is no longer capable of that, I think the charity should try to see if there is a way to accommodate them first instead of jumping straight to letting them go.

My daughter volunteered in our local hospital for a while. Getting into NHS volunteering is a huge task in itself - there was a window to apply, a wait for the next tranche of volunteers, then loads of online training on subjects like data protection and spotting radicalisation.

They were mainly looking for people to do data entry, which I would have thought should be a paid job. My daughter has learning disabilities- i thought there would be opportunities in befriending patients but no. The opportunities were much more in tech based roles.

So many people want to volunteer in the NHS to put it on their CV. But it does look like the volunteers are doing real jobs which could be paid.

@Arran2024

Well, I would say that all voluntary work is a real job by default. Voluntary work isn't any less a real job than paid work.

Is there a reason why you thought that data entry would not be part of an NHS volunteer's work? Why wouldn't it/shouldn't it be? It doesn't sound all that fun (unless someone enjoys data entry) but it also doesn't sound like it would be overly difficult.

I just wonder (and I may be wrong) if you were expecting NHS voluntary work to consist of work that is largely considered more enjoyable rather than something that many perceive as dull and monotonous, such as data entry. But there's no reason why that would be the case.

And @SixtySomething

Having volunteers with some expert knowledge of the goods can surely be a good thing for the charity.

I have just read a magazine article about a charity shop in a town near us. Apparently this shop is a branch of Marie Curie; however, it is in a very affluent area so they have turned it in to a designer-brand only store. Their other shops across the region are instructed to lift out the better stuff from their stock and send them to this shop where they have the sort of customer base who might be prepared to spend ££££ on a pre-loved designer frock or bag or whatever.

I think a lot of volunteers should be paid, really. I saw an ad recently for a volunteer at a riding stables - sure, lots of girls/young women love horses and might want to do it, but they are a commercial business and if they need staff they should be paying them.

Perhaps the line for me is whether it is for a money-making business, which should pay and not use volunteers. Unpaid volunteering should only be for a brief work experience (say a couple of weeks), for a non-profit/charity, or something organised by the community like litter-picking on the beach. I guess there is also public service, like visiting hospital patients, which benefits the patients but is peripheral to the core business of hospitals.

@Arran2024 That IS a paid job. My DN does it for the NHS. Entry level job and she has a degree.

The charity shops are commercial ventures! All charities need money. The NHs should pay (although some people love running the book club) and so should stables. My DD volunteered for the NT. She got great skills from that do a two way benefit. However the NHS is not a charity. This is a paid role.

Agree. I regularly take an extended period of time off and have never experienced any resentment or unpleasantness from staff. If I did I would volunteer somewhere else. I used to volunteer in a community cafe, but wasn’t happy with the safeguarding procedures and left after volunteering there for two years. I was working with another volunteer who wad arrested and later convicted of murder. When I asked how safeguarding procedures would be reviewed following this incident (I had been working with him on my own) I found their response unsatisfactory and did indeed ‘flounce’

I habe volubteered for over 12yrs
I do expect a paid job or to be empkyed by the charity.
Perhaps he is unable or unwilling to work and is happy as he is...unlike the beaurocrstic shite of the work force.

There are paid jobs with the charities and of course the dc could be considered. Could he manage others though? Charity shops are staffed by volunteers with no expectations. Being an employee is very different and might not be suitable.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner

Exactly - if a paid role became available at the shop, then the gentleman could by all means apply for it. Such a role would most likely be a management position, though (either shop manager or deputy manager) and would have a lot more expectations, responsibilities and pressure than being a volunteer has.

@ShanghaiDiva

Yep - I don't know where the thing about resentment at time off comes from, because, while I suppose it's not impossible that it happens sometimes, I'm fairly confident that the majority of volunteers don't begrudge their colleagues having holidays/days off.

I also find it hard to believe that it has that much of an impact on the other volunteers - in my experience, they're not expected to take on additional work to cover for other staff members while they're absent. Some volunteers might choose to do so, but there's no requirement or expectation.

I always wondered why chuggers get paid and shop workers don't, I'd much rather it was the other way around!

I also always wonder why people would volunteer to work for a charity that pays it's CEO 250k. I can understand as a way to get something on your CV because you have no experience and you're desperate - but otherwise I think you must be mad!

Completely being taken advantage of as you say OP.

PIP isn’t mean tested. Plenty of ppl who claim it work

I was in a charity shop last week, and the staff were trying on a pile of lovely clothes which had just been donated, so were taking their pick. I think volunteering in them can have some great benefits.

My point is that data entry IS a paid job in the hospital. So the hospital could presumably employ someone to do it. But they use unpaid volunteers. Filing was another one.

To me, volunteering jobs should not be at the expense of paid jobs. I think it's a fine line.

My daughter has additional needs and they couldn't find anything for her to do in the end, as the volunteering team was mainly about getting volunteers into the offices to do admin work.

I had, perhaps foolishly, thought she could be a visitor to bed bound patients or similar. At first this is what she did - she was in what they called the despatch lounge, where discharged patients would wait for taxis, lifts home. She would make cups of tea and chat to the people waiting. But they got rid of the service during covid and it never came back

That's what I'm saying. It IS a paid job and I think it is odd that the volunteering team is so focused on finding volunteers for admin roles. I think this work should be paid.

Charity shops have far more impact than recycling goods. I am responsible for a charity shop (as well as other duties within the charity I work for) and recently calculated the Social Return on Investment for the branch and was staggered to learn that for every £1 that goes in the till (and then gets spent on services directly benefitting vulnerable people), £7 is raised in social value.

social value includes preventing goods from going into landfill; improving employability opportunities for volunteers; reducing volunteers’ isolation; providing a hub that signposts shoppers to support services; helping to keep a high street busy; increasing individuals’ social network; raising confidence; developing awareness and tolerance of the cause area they work in ; and so much more.

https://charityretail.org.uk/social-value-of-charity-shops

i’ve no doubt that there are shops, staff, volunteers, charities that could do things better. Maybe some should be closed down/sacked/asked to leave/exposed. But the vast majority are a huge asset to their community and to society. And they’re appreciated, valued and recognised by the team around them.

a new variation on the standard staff steal all the best stock comment

@Arran2024

Thanks, I think I understand what you are getting at more. I agree that in this case, the NHS could be seen as being in the wrong for taking volunteers and not just advertising more paid roles.

But they seem to be very stretched financially and I presume this is a cost-cutting exercise. I agree that this isn't an ideal situation.

Why do people work a minimum wage job in Waitrose when the top executive of JLP has a package of £1.26 million? Are they also mad and being taken advantage of?
I volunteer with a charity shop and am neither mad nor desperate. Is it so incredulous that I want to give my time for free to a cause that I support?

@touchdown2

I would suggest the reason is because most volunteers believe the CEOs' salaries to be reasonable and justified, considering the amount of skills and responsibilities for the role.

People who volunteer often enjoy the flexibility of volunteering - the ability to turn down jobs you don't want to do, to take as much time off as you want, for any reason. If a volunteer wants to take four months off, they can do so.

If they were paid employees, things would completely change. They'd be required to be working (outside of holiday entitlement/sick leave) and the amount of holiday given would be limited. They'd also be forced to do work that they prefer not to do.

Volunteering in the NHS is very sought after, especially by people looking to work in the NHS in the future. So they have a huge number of people wanting to do it and imo they take full advantage of that.