Refusing to provide references

[nameichange]

Hi, I have name changed for this.
I volunteered in an organisation for 6 months and they have asked me to not come anymore because I didn't notify an absence and I'm not a reliable source of help. My attendance is 75%. Anyway they are saying they can't provide any references in future. I feel quite disappointed, What can I do about this situation?

Volunteer work should be viewed exactly as paid work. You show every day you are supposed to and you are unwell you either have a note from your GP and/or an honest conversation with the boss about your illness.

I am aware of my poor attendance, but this could have been dealt more appropriately. I worked really hard and covered all the duties for the absent days. It does feel unfair as I have 75% attendance it's not low or doesn't reflect the quality of the work I have done for them. If they had discussed this with me I could have volunteered for 6 more months and overall my attendance could've improved.

75% attendance is very poor op. Its not flexitime where you can take days off but it's ok because you work really hard when you're there.

They don't need to explicitly state they expect you to be in work more than 3/4 of the time.

I have 75% attendance it's not low

For every four days you failed to turn up for one of them. In what world do you think that is acceptable?

OP, you continue to insist that 75% attendance is good, and that your work was great, and the sad truth is that they clearly didn't agree. For them to effectively fire you, when you were working for free, strongly suggests that your work was not all that great, or they found you hard to deal with, or that it WAS inconvenient when you didn't show up when you should have.
And, though you say there was no expectation on how much you'd be there, you have indicated that you did know when it had been arranged that you'd be there, and you have not argued that 75% had no basis (which would be the case if there had been no real plan on how much you'd be there).

If it was me, I'd be trying to work out why I was so unpopular that I'd been fired when I was working for free. There is no way that, having gone to the effort of doing that, they could be expected to recommend you for employment - can you not see that? Any honest reference would have to say, 'we didn't want her help, even when it was free', which would make you less employable than no reference.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but you do need to wake up to the reality, and stop expecting anything further from this organization. It went badly wrong, work out what you need to do and to change, to become potentially employable.

Would you rather they sent a reference saying you frequently let them down by only turning up 3 days out of 4?

You’re a volunteer with poor attendance. There’s nothing you can do, you need to just let it drop. They’ve got no obligation to treat you as they would have an employee, although I’d have expected an employee with 75% attendance to be shown the door as well.

”If they had discussed this with me I could have volunteered for 6 more months”

But they don’t want you there OP. If you have no idea whether someone’s going to show up or not they are more of a hindrance than a help I’m afraid.

I think going forward most employers wouldn't expect a reference for a voluntary post anyway, so don't worry too much.
Start again with another organisation and turn up more often!

it does feel unfair as I have 75% attendance it's not low

It's appalling and wouldn't be acceptable in a paid working position.

75% attendance is shocking. What happened when you didn't work those days, did you let them know or just not turn up? Either way you sound incredibly unreliable and I think the fact they are unwilling to give you a reference is a kindness.

In every job I've ever had, 75% attendance would have triggered some sort of procedure - occupational health, disciplinary, etc. Just because it's a voluntary position doesn't mean they have to accept help from unreliable volunteers.