This study is designed to argue that volunteer activities should be accompanied with the appropriate (social) recognition and compensation in order to prevent volunteers from dropping out and to encourage them to continue their activities. This study ...
This study is designed to argue that volunteer activities should be accompanied with the appropriate (social) recognition and compensation in order to prevent volunteers from dropping out and to encourage them to continue their activities. This study is to provide materials for the management of the volunteer program, exploring the consciousness of volunteers (both continuer and discontinuer) and confirming what measures of recognition and reward have been taken and will be taken.
Most of volunteers (71.0%) feel the necessity of recognition and compensation for their activities. It is revealed that they prefer the material compensation like traffic or food expenses, career recognition (or favor of employment and promotion) etc..
Discontinuer group wants social recognition and compensation to be given more directly and more materially than continuer group does.
As to what kinds of recognition and compensation would have an influence upon the continuation of their activities, both of them agree that the cultural compensation would do so. Discontinuer group, however, put more emphasis on the fact that the material compensation would have an impact on the continuation.
When it comes to correlations with variables such as the necessity of recognition and compensation, period and the necessity of compensation, the necessity of compensation and whether to continue volunteer activities or not, significant differences were discovered statistically on the level of <0.1. This reveals that volunteer activities are closely related with recognition and compensation.
Although volunteer activities were regarded as a social duty and a right, this study recommends the concrete design for recognition and compensation for volunteers as following. First, if volunteers do their works during a certain period, their activities should be acknowledged as a social career. Thus social recognition and compensation should be systematized.
Second, recognition and compensation can be embodied by organs which make use of volunteers. That is to say, organs should have a good grasp of volunteer's desires and reflect them in the volunteer policy ; organs should also set an inner official regulation for recognition and compensation and budget minimal expenses for volunteers. A member of the staff in full charge of volunteers makes them feel that they belong to the organ, selects the person who will be in charge of a certain part of work, or the volunteer manager, and assigns a duty to him. He should exchange ideas with other volunteers and mediate them. In addition, he should check every activity of volunteers and take charge of something that may happen after volunteer activities. Thus the volunteer manager should be made the best use of through clear and definite division of duties from the stage of the pre-placement of volunteers.