Voluntas (2007) 18:225–240 DOI 10.1007/s11266-007-9043-7 ORIGINAL PAPER
Making Sense of Organizational Change: Voices of Older Volunteers Mabel Lie Æ Susan Baines
Published online: 22 September 2007 Ó International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2007
Abstract The role of voluntary and community sector organizations in the delivery of public services is increasing and these changes bring new responsibilities and benefits to organizations that have the capacity to participate. There are concerns within the sector about the implications for citizenship and participation. The sector is highly dependent on volunteers yet little is known about how organizational change in response to new relationships with the statutory sector impact upon the commitment and well-being of people who volunteer. This paper addresses that gap in knowledge for older volunteers. Drawing upon collaborative research with a voluntary organization in the north of England, the authors explore the meanings and aspirations of volunteering for older people, and explain how and why changes associated with closer engagement with public service delivery and less grant dependency can be disempowering for them. Re´sume´ Le roˆle des organisations dans le secteur du be´ne´volat et de la communaute´ pour l’offre de services publics grandit et ces changements apportent de nouvelles responsabilite´s et de nouveaux avantages aux organisations qui peuvent y participer. Il ressort des inquie´tudes dans ce secteur quant aux implications citoyennes et a` la participation. Ce dernier est largement de´pendant des be´ne´voles. Pourtant, peu de choses sont connues sur la manie`re dont le changement organisationnel, suite aux nouvelles relations avec le secteur re`glementaire, influence l’engagement et le bien-eˆtre des personnes be´ne´voles. Cet article traite de ce manque de connaissances pour les M. Lie (&) Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, 21 Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AA, UK e-mail:
[email protected] S. Baines Research Institute for Health and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan University, Hathersage Road, Manchester M13 0JA, UK e-mail:
[email protected]
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personnes aˆge´es be´ne´voles. Graˆce a` une recherche en collaboration avec une organisation be´ne´vole du Nord de l’Angleterre, les auteurs explorent les sens et les aspirations du be´ne´volat pour les personnes aˆge´es, et ils expliquent comment et pourquoi les changements combine´s a` un engagement plus e´troit avec une offre de services publics et une moindre de´pendance vis-a`-vis des subventions peuvent eˆtre de´semparant pour eux. Zusammenfassung Die Rolle von Dritte-Sektor-Organisationen in der Lieferung von o¨ffentlichen Dienstleistungen wa¨chst und diese Vera¨nderungen bringen neue Verantwortlichkeiten und Vorteile fu¨r Organisationen, die die Kapazita¨t haben, sich zu beteiligen. Innerhalb des Sektors gibt es Bedenken u¨ber die Konsequenzen fu¨r die Bu¨rger und deren Teilnahme. Der Sektor beruht sehr auf ehrenamtlichen Helfern, jedoch ist wenig daru¨ber bekannt, wie organisatorische Vera¨nderung als Ergebnis von neuen Beziehungen mit dem staatlichen Sektor das Engagement und das Wohlergehen der Leute, die voluntieren, beeinflussen. Dieser Artikel befasst sich mit dieser Wissenslu¨cke bezogen auf a¨ltere ehrenamtliche Helfer. Die Autoren, die sich auf eine Recherche, die zusammen mit einer gemeinnu¨tzigen Organisation im Norden Englands durchgefu¨hrt wurde, stu¨tzen, untersuchen die Bedeutung von und die Aspirationen fu¨r ehrenamtliche Arbeit unter a¨lteren Personen, und erkla¨ren, wie und warum Vera¨nderungen verbunden mit engerer Bindung an die Lieferung von o¨ffentlichen Dienstleistungen und mit geringerer Abha¨ngigkeit von Subventionen fu¨r diese entma¨chtigend sein ko¨nnen. Resumen El papel de las organizaciones voluntarias y del sector comunitario en la prestacio´n de servicios pu´blicos tiene cada vez ma´s peso ma´s provocando cambios que traen nuevas responsabilidades y ventajas para las organizaciones con capacidad para participar. Dentro de este sector existen preocupaciones sobre el compromiso de los ciudadanos y su participacio´n, ya que tiene una fuerte dependencia de los voluntarios, si bien se sabe poco sobre la influencia que tendra´n en el compromiso y el bienestar de los voluntarios los cambios organizativos que se han introducido para responder a las nuevas relaciones con el sector estatutario. En este trabajo se analiza el vacı´o de conocimientos de los voluntarios ma´s veteranos. Partiendo de una investigacio´n comu´n con una organizacio´n voluntaria del norte de Inglaterra, el autor del trabajo examina el significado y las aspiraciones que en relacio´n con el voluntariado tienen las personas ma´s veteranas, y explica por que´ puede ser frustrante para ellos los cambios provocados por las nuevas y estrechas relaciones con los servicios pu´blicos y la menor dependencia de subvenciones. Keywords Older volunteers Organizational change Voluntary sector reform Values England
Introduction Social and caring services are provided in advanced capitalist welfare states by four ‘‘institutional’’ modes of provision: statutory bodies, the market, the household, and the voluntary sector. Over the past two decades many Western states have sought to reduce
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public provision and expand the involvement of non-state institutions. With the weakening of confidence in the market as the solution to welfare problems, the role of voluntary sector has been increasingly mainstreamed. This has been particularly characteristic of English-speaking countries where governments aim to harness the energies of voluntary agencies and charitable bodies to supplement the state and private sector (Alcock et al. 2004; HM Treasury 2002; Milligan and Conradson 2006b). There are also examples of care by voluntary sector, state-funded provision in Europe; for example it is significant in The Netherlands and present, on a very small scale, in Italy (Glucksmann and Lyon 2006). Closer engagement with public service delivery can be a welcome source of income and of influence for some organizations. There are however concerns within the sector about costs in terms of independence, legitimacy with service users, and citizen participation as volunteers (Eikenberry and Kluver 2004; NCVO 2005). This last theme is important because political and academic discourses in the USA, Europe, Canada, and Australia emphasize the contribution volunteering can make not only to the well-being of individuals and communities (Barlow and Hainsworth 2001; Boyle et al. 2006; Eckstein 2001) but to wider society (Evers and Laville 2004; Kendall 2003; Milligan and Conradson 2006a; Salamon 1999). This paper is based on research in the United Kingdom (UK), where involvement of voluntary organizations in the delivery of public services is significant and likely to grow (Lewis 2005). UK Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed that the sector’s influence in the past decade has been, ‘‘one of the most profound and lasting changes in society’’ (Blair, June 2006). Others concur with his assessment of the magnitude of change; for example, the greater involvement of the voluntary sector in public service provision in the UK has been described as a revolution ‘‘every bit as far reaching as the privatization of nationalized industries under Margaret Thatcher’’ (Mathiason 2005). The rationale behind elevating the role of the voluntary sector goes beyond reducing the dependence on the state provision of services. It has also been recognized by the New Labour Government as making an important contribution to developing ‘‘civil renewal’’ through volunteering, especially for adults at risk of social exclusion (HM Treasury 2004). These dimensions are not well coordinated and there can be tensions between the idea of voluntary organizations as agents of civil renewal and as service providers (Commission on the Future of the Voluntary Sector 1996; Lewis 2005). We examine that tension through the lens of volunteering in one charity dedicated to the welfare of older people. The charity has been successful in recruiting and supporting a large and diverse volunteer ‘‘workforce’’ consisting mainly of people over the age of retirement. We draw upon in-depth interviews to analyze meanings and aspirations of volunteering for older people, and explain why organizational change in response to new relationships with the statutory sector and the market economy can be disempowering for them.
Setting the scene: Change in the UK voluntary sector In the UK the voluntary sector is growing in size partly because of its increased role in public service delivery and partnership working with local authorities. While the
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voluntary sector’s paid workforce continues to expand,1 the role of volunteers should not be underestimated. According to the latest National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Voluntary Sector Almanac, more than twice the number of full-time equivalent paid employees would be needed to replace formal volunteers in the voluntary sector (Wilding et al. 2006). Some estimates value the contribution of volunteers to the UK economy in tens of billions of pounds (National Audit Office 2005). The expansion of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) has become associated with the policies of the New Labour Government, but it has its roots in the promotion of the idea of a ‘‘mixed economy of care’’ under the Conservative administration in the 1990s. With the introduction of competitive tendering and out-sourcing of contracts for service delivery, a new ‘‘contract culture’’ developed in relations between the state and voluntary sector (Alcock et al. 2004). New Labour, elected in 1997, embraced the voluntary sector as part of its wider workfare third way agenda alongside the public and private sectors (Lewis 2004; Roberts and Devine 2004; Surender 2004). A framework (Compact) to guide relationships between the government and VCS was developed and launched in 1998 after a major consultation (Cm 4100 1998). The HM Treasury Cross Cutting Review in 2002 started with the assumption that the sector could take on a greater role in public service delivery and called upon all government departments to engage more effectively with voluntary sector partners (HM Treasury 2002). One of the outcomes was the Active Communities Unit (ACU) with a budget and a commitment to investment in modernizing the infrastructure of the sector. More recently, the February 2006 Public Accounts Committee report Working with the Voluntary Sector (House of Commons 2006) criticized the Government’s modest targets for increasing the involvement of voluntary organizations in public services and recommended more challenging targets to encourage the use of the voluntary sector. The newly created Office of the Third Sector has now been tasked with enhancing the role of the sector. In addition to contributing to its goals for public services, the UK government looks to the voluntary and community sector to help to reinvigorate civic life (HM Treasury 2004). Involvement in voluntary work is seen as instrumental in connecting (or reconnecting) individuals to the labour market by offering opportunities to develop skills and credentials (Russell 2005). At the same time, indications are that the voluntary sector is becoming more like the private sector as social enterprise activities drive more and more of the sector’s economy (Mellor and Affleck 2006; Wilding et al. 2006). Earned income constitutes just under half (47%) of its total income. The result is that tensions that have arisen between welfarism and consumerism after public services reform (Baldock 2003) are now likely to be found in the voluntary sector. The different roles played by voluntary organizations and resultant tensions are reflected in the range of organizations that can be found in the sector. Milligan and Fyfe (2005) describe a spectrum of voluntary welfare organizations that range from 1
Some 2.2% of the UK paid workforce is employed in the voluntary sector; almost two-thirds full-time (Wilding et al. 2006).
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those that are grassroots, i.e., characterized by mutuality, solidarity, and empathy, to those that are corporatist, characterized by a professionalised workforce of paid staff, bureaucratisation, and pressures towards marketisation. They argue that reforms in the voluntary sector have resulted in greater bifurcation between the two extremes; corporatist organizations that engage closely with the state move away from self-help activities to complex service provision and tend to support more passive forms of citizenship (ibid). Funding by statutory agencies has many implications for role definitions of employees and volunteers within voluntary organizations. Tighter service specifications and increased accountability make new demands on workloads, responsibility, and skills of volunteers (Blackmore 2005; Jochum et al. 2005). There is evidence that in many contexts volunteering is becoming more work-like with increasingly formalized structures involving, for example, selection, appraisal, and training (Davis Smith 1995). Little has been written about how these changes are likely to be perceived by volunteers over the age of retirement. However volunteering aligned closely with policies to enhance readiness for paid work is likely to have ambiguous relevance to them (Craig 2004). There is some evidence that increased formality can be a deterrent to volunteering for older people (Davis Smith and Gay 2005). In what follows we examine how the changing role of the voluntary sector impacts on a charity working to improve the well-being of older people. We draw upon this case study to describe the management of change by the organization and the responses of its volunteers. The next section is an overview of research on volunteering, focusing on older volunteers. This is followed by a summary of how the study was conducted. The perspective of older volunteers as they faced funding cutbacks and changes in their volunteering roles is the subject of the next section. This provides the base on which we reflect upon the effects of organizational change on older volunteers. The conclusion highlights the importance of understanding the impact of reforms in the voluntary sector on a diverse population of volunteers in order to ensure that their contribution is not lost.
Research on volunteering As volunteering has risen up the UK policy agenda in recent years, the quantity of data collected by the government on this subject has grown. Government data demonstrate that formal volunteering is practiced at least occasionally by a large and growing minority of people in England and Wales. Participation is not, however, evenly distributed among socio-economic groups. The most likely people to volunteer are those in employment, with the highest levels of education, and the highest incomes (Attwood et al. 2003). There are geographical variations, with formal volunteering more characteristic of affluent areas and informal volunteering of less affluent ones (Williams 2003). According to the Home Office Citizenship Survey, more than two fifths (44%) of people in England and Wales participated in ‘‘formal’’ volunteering (i.e., giving unpaid help to others through clubs, groups, or
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organizations) at least once in a 12 month period (2005 survey early findings).2 This represents a rise from 39% since the first survey in 2001. The proportion who reported volunteering at least once a month was much lower in both years with a less pronounced upward trend (27% in 2001 and 29% in 2005). The Citizenship Survey data also indicate that high participation levels continue after retirement age. This is in contrast to earlier findings from the UK and other developed economies that forms of civic participation including formal volunteering tend fall off among older persons (Burr et al. 2002). A sharp decline in volunteering after late middle age was reported in the National Survey of Volunteering conducted in 1981, 1991, and 1997 by the National Centre for Volunteering (Davis Smith 1998).3 Some popularity for volunteering among the recently retired is also reported in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), which collects data on the health, economic situation, and quality of life from a sample of 14,000 people aged 50 and over. According to the ELSA survey of 2002, a fifth of men and a quarter of women aged 55–59 who were self classified as retired did some form of voluntary work (Marmot et al. 2003). Evidence from research on older volunteers suggests that they volunteer for similar reasons to their younger counterparts. They want to feel that they are useful members of society, to help others, to put something back into the community, to meet new people, and to pursue learning and personal growth (Barlow and Hainsworth 2001; Narushima 2005; Rochester et al. 2002). The most usually reported age related incentive to volunteering is to fill the vocational void left by retirement and to manage increased free time (Davis Smith and Gay 2005). There is also evidence that organizations whose mission or purpose is to promote the well-being of older people have a considerable advantage in involving older people as volunteers (Rochester et al. 2002). Barriers to volunteering in later life include failure by older workers to plan the transition from full time employment and their lack of awareness about volunteering and how to access it (Volunteer Development Scotland 1995). Increasing pressures towards formalization in volunteering deters some older people who would prefer to volunteer in a more informal, less workplace-like setting (Davis Smith and Gay 2005). An image of volunteering as middle aged and middle class can be a significant deterrent for older people from less privileged social backgrounds (Volunteer Development Scotland 2003). More emphasis in the literature has been placed upon motivation and deterrents than upon the experience of volunteering and its outcomes. Some studies however have looked at the impact of volunteering on subjective and objective well-being and a few have done this from the perspective of older people. There is evidence, for example, from case study work in Canada that volunteering improves the lives of older adults because through it they can then gain a sense of autonomy, self worth, continual learning and development, an active and positive lifestyle, and support networks (Narushima 2005). 2
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/citizensurvey.html
3
This series of surveys collected information about volunteering activity and reasons for volunteering from 1,486 randomly sampled UK addresses. It cannot of course be compared directly with the more recent Citizenship Survey series (2001–2005) which used a different sampling base and asked different questions.
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In the UK the most substantial source of evidence is the recent study led by Fiona Devine (2003) which used qualitative methods to examine the context, experience, and consequences of volunteering as well as reasons for entering it. It was not specifically about older people but a third of the 120 participants were over retirement age. One conclusion was that volunteering must be situated within networks of informal support, especially family, neighbours, and friends (Roberts and Devine 2004). The centrality of enjoyment and pleasure in volunteering was emphasized across age ranges (ibid). Devine identified a need for further research to explore the issue of time and voluntary action, specifically how volunteers juggle voluntary action along with other commitments (Devine 2003). In addition, while information is available about the numbers and characteristics of older volunteers and their motivations for volunteering, little has been written about their responses to changes in the organizations that they volunteer in, that are a result of external structural changes in the sector. The research on which this paper is based (Baines et al. 2006) attempts to fill some of these gaps in knowledge.
The research evidence: A study of older people’s volunteering The research reported here was funded by the Big Lottery Fund. The research participants were volunteers and former volunteers as well as service-users at Age Concern Newcastle. The organization’s city center premises are located in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England. The study sought to improve understanding of volunteering amongst the older population by identifying the factors that influence older people to give of their time in formal volunteering amidst their other activities such as paid work, caring, and neighbouring. In order to interrogate these complex social meanings and practices, the research team placed in-depth qualitative interviews at the heart of the project. The research began with focus groups to help plan the fieldwork and ensure that it was informed by as wide a range of volunteers as possible. There followed a questionnaire survey of Age Concern Newcastle’s current and former volunteers. In this paper we draw upon the most substantial part of the research, in-depth interviews with 76 people aged 55 and above. These interviewees were purposely sampled for from three groups: current volunteers; former volunteers; and users of leisure and learning services. As the research team was interested in understanding how older people managed volunteering in the context of their daily lives, decisions about sampling paid particular attention to those who had caring commitments and those who were aged 75 and above. These groups were over represented in the interviews. One quarter of the interviewees were male and over a third lived in one of the 10% most deprived wards in England.4 The majority (88%) were retired. The interviews were designed to draw out comparisons between the experiences and perspectives of active volunteers, former volunteers, and people who have not volunteered. The fieldwork was contextualised with the collation of relevant data and commentary from diverse sources including documentary evidence and 4
Based on the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000, ward indices, England.
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observation of meetings and events. The following sections report on data from interviews. All the names used are pseudonyms.
The effects of organizational change Age Concern Newcastle is part of Age Concern the Federation, which has a constitutional role as the National Council on Ageing in the UK. Over the years in order to maintain independence, the trend throughout the federation has been more investment in fund-raising, marketing, and income-generating partnerships. Like other voluntary sector bodies, they are responding to a more challenging funding environment in the UK: The UK is a cold climate for charity fundraising. Lottery ticket sales have declined, resulting in less funding flowing to voluntary and community organisations. European funding is migrating to new member states from 2006. Charitable giving shows no signs of significant growth. Business giving remains low but new opportunities are emerging. Increasingly charities are being told to move away from grant dependency, become more business like, earn income, develop an asset base and consider loan finance as well as accessing opportunities for delivering public services. (NCVO 2005–2007) The mission of Age Concern Newcastle is ‘‘to promote the status and well-being of all older people in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne and to make later life a fulfilling and enjoyable experience.’’ While sharing a common purpose and values with the rest of the Federation, Age Concern Newcastle operates independently as a charity to meet local needs, securing contracts and earned income from the local authority and health trust, while also applying to grant-making bodies for maintaining or developing their activities. It fulfils its mission in the following services it provides: Day Services; Leisure and Learning Services; Befriending Service; and Information and Advice Service through a workforce of paid and volunteer staff. With changes in funding regimes and the development of services they provide, the number of paid professional staff grew by more than 50% from 25 in 1996 to 39 in 2006. The number of paid care workers rose from 100 to 140 in the same period. Such changes reflect the effects of New Labour’s commitment to a mixed economy of welfare and the contracting out of public services to the voluntary sector. Organizations like Age Concern Newcastle have also had to adapt to meet demands for high standards of accountability and administration including monitoring and evaluation from contractors, funding bodies, and the Charity Commission (the regulator and registrar for charities in England and Wales). In the past few years, Age Concern Newcastle had to develop particularly rapidly to adjust to various changes in funding mechanisms while still meeting its aims and objectives. The organization has had a service agreement contract since 1993 with the local authority Social Services Directorate, bringing in valued fee income. This, however, does not guarantee a permanent income stream. In 2002 as a result of financial cutbacks, the contract had to be renegotiated. The streamlining and reorganization of lunch clubs (part of Day Services) resulted in a two-tiered service,
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i.e., volunteer-led lunch clubs and supported lunch clubs for the more frail and elderly with permanent staff presence. With the closure of lunch clubs, the number of volunteers fell from 221 to 134. Apart from the distress and dismay of service-users and staff, the impact on volunteer morale was significant: We felt very, very bitter when they came and told us from Age Concern they were going to have to close the lunch club and it wasn’t just ours... (Mr Gordon, former volunteer) Mrs Atkinson (current volunteer): And I lost all three [lunch clubs] of mine, they all closed. Interviewer: Because of the cuts? Mrs Atkinson: Because of the way the funding was going. They amalgamated so many into other clubs and some became core clubs which is less able people, but what they do with them, which I didn’t like, you had so many in the morning, they went home, then you had so many of an afternoon. Well to me that’s, that wasn’t my intentions and that’s not the way I wanted to run the lunch club.5 Volunteers also noted the impact on the service-users of these changes, which included changes in transport provision: We used to go to South Shields for lunch and have a day in South Shields and then bring them home and that but now they can’t because the system’s changed. That’s just the way it works now so. (Mr Lamb, current volunteer) ’Cause some of these old people loved it [the club]. And they decided that four of them, if they couldn’t be picked up, they’d be willing to get a taxi to come... So they weren’t [stopped from coming] because they were able to get their own taxi... Because that is wrong. It’s wrong. I mean it’s a service... we’re giving a service. And we’re giving our time free so who are they to come and say who’s to come and who’s not to come!? (Mrs Willis, current volunteer) In a recent study in Australia, the importance of volunteers as carriers of change or stability was highlighted and some older volunteers were observed to disrupt change towards a more professional environment (McDonald and Warburton 2003). In Age Concern Newcastle, this did not happen as older volunteers were more likely to accept the circumstances than to stage a protest. This appears to be symptomatic of organizations at the ‘‘corporatist’’ end of the spectrum with its more passive forms of citizenship (Milligan and Fyfe 2005). In a few cases however, when lunch clubs were closed, other means were found to continue the service, but at a price: As a result of them [Age Concern Newcastle] withdrawing, someone from the church had to take on the financial side and we no longer had any transport so any clients that wanted to come had to come either on the bus or make their own way. And in fact many of them spend twice as much on their transport as 5
Mrs Atkinson’s comments reflect some lack of understanding between what constituted a day center and a lunch club before the changes came about. The Supported Groups that she describes tended to replace the day centers whilst the Volunteer-Led Groups replaced the lunch clubs.
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they do on the lunch in order to come because they like coming... (Mrs Baker, former volunteer) This demonstrates a situation in which a voluntary organization manages structural change in a pragmatic way through maintaining and improving services for the less able and leaving those with more resources to manage on their own or through the help of other agencies. While voluntary action as demonstrated is often triggered by such circumstances, the capacity to exercise such agency is often not there among the more vulnerable sections of the community. In a market-led mixed economy of welfare, the hands of voluntary organizations are often tied. Funding bodies look favourably upon innovation and enterprise and Age Concern Newcastle has embraced this successfully in a number of ways. Its refurbished coffee-shop with its improved menu is a popular meeting place in the city center for many older members of the public. Over the past few years, Age Concern Newcastle’s leisure and learning services experienced rapid expansion. Its leisure and learning classes, which benefit from a partnership with the local Further Education college recorded more than 19,000 attendances from people all over the region in 2004– 2005.6 However, older volunteers who remember Age Concern Newcastle as it was in the past reflect on the fact that it has changed from being more of a mutual self-help organization with a focus on the elderly, to one that is marketing its services for the younger elderly (50 plus) and those who are less needy:7 There’s younger people coming in now, you know. I think there’s more attention paid to the younger people who come in for the computer. (Mrs Fraser, former volunteer) The only thing I find about Age Concern is that it doesn’t attract the people it was designed to attract in the first place. I mean to be honest most of the people that go to Age Concern for these things are quite well off. They’re not, they’re not very hard up, they’re not very poor but I thought Age Concern would be more for the poor people you know. (Mr Dawson, current volunteer) I don’t think there’s the interest from the Age Concern staff for the elderly that there used to be, sort of 10 years ago. (Mrs Cooper, current volunteer) While among these older members, a degree of ‘‘mission drift’’ or ‘‘expansion’’ appears to have taken place, the organization sees this as innovative ways of fulfilling its mission, which extends to ‘‘all older people.’’8 Age Concern Newcastle’s commitment to older people who are vulnerable or disadvantaged continues through 6
Recent changes in funding from the Learning and Skills Council favouring younger adults is however likely to threaten the continuation of this service in its present form.
7
This is also reflected in the activities of the national federation, see for example the Heyday project launched by Age Concern England, www.heyday.org.uk/
8
The emergence of the third age (Laslett 1989) and government attempts to encourage work and productivity among the younger cohort of older people has seen a downward drift of the definition of ‘‘ageing’’ to mean ‘‘fifty-plus’’ (Biggs et al. 2006). The consumer market has also cashed in on this with its range of products and services for the over 50s.
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its care workers working in the ‘‘Care at Home’’ service to meet the needs of frail and very dependent people. However with growing dependence on fee income rather than grant income, indications are that the organization is shifting towards meeting needs on the basis of organizational strategy rather than for moral reasons (Brown et al. 2000). The employment of more paid staff and more managerial practices has sometimes not been looked upon too favourably by volunteers. And when distinctions between volunteers and paid workers are blurred, this can result in tensions: I do feel a little bit about some of the people, they call them volunteers, that do like take the, take the line dancing for instance or take the computer classes and whatnot, they’re volunteers but they get paid and that’s why they [service-users] have to pay more money to compensate for the payment they give these volunteers. Now I, I say well I don’t think they should call them volunteers if they’re getting paid. They’re instructors you know and that’s it. (Mr Dawson, current volunteer) The trading arm of the organization selling insurance and other financial products to the general public is an example of an entrepreneurial culture bringing in a valued income to the organization. But new regulations from the Financial Services Authority meant more training and demands on volunteers. According to the volunteers in Age Concern Newcastle (Services) Ltd., they were given two days of training that involved paid staff from Age Concern offices in other regions, following changes to the Financial Services legislation. They then had to pass a test. Previously volunteers had chatted informally to enquirers; they were now required to fill in a questionnaire before they could supply a quote. Volunteers found this intrusive and changed the atmosphere of their relationship with their customers. Volunteers were also not allowed to recommend products other than the ones that they were selling, even though they knew that there were other products that were more appropriate. Volunteers also reported feeling stressed about making a mistake and losing the spontaneity of customer contact that they used to enjoy in the past. This led to a degree of discomfort for volunteers: But I think it’s a bit onerous, asking people to do this kind of thing because really it’s what you expect core centre staff, it’s sort of like turning a voluntary organization into a commercial profit seeking, you know. And that’s what I feel it is, to my mind it isn’t sort of doing things to help the older people, because you have to ask all of these intrusive questions and I’m not happy about it. (Mrs Hetherington, current volunteer) Since 2004, the numbers of volunteers in this service rose to ten but fell to four, and of those that left, only one went for reasons other than the new regulations. To make up for their loss, a paid member of staff was recruited.
Organizational change and the essence of volunteering The organizational changes described above resulted in situations where there was a misfit between the volunteering role and the essential nature of what volunteering
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meant to older people. Whether it was to contribute to society as a whole, or to a specific group in society, the vast majority of interviewees looked upon volunteering in terms of reciprocity and ‘‘gift-giving’’ (Eckstein 2001). This interpretation made volunteering a very positive experience, as it contributed to a sense of belonging. The high value placed on reciprocity among older people may be explained by the sense of individuality and self-respect that it engenders (Wilson 1993). In addition, many volunteers describe what they do as fun and a source of happiness or great joy that gives them a ‘‘feel good’’ factor. This fun-loving aspect of volunteering relates to the perspective of volunteering as a form of leisure. But when volunteering takes on a more work-like quality, going beyond the limits of what the volunteer would do without being paid—leading to a sense of being taken for granted—this will tend to discourage volunteering activity. Common to all the volunteers is the fact that volunteering is what it is: doing things voluntarily, out of their own free will, and often on their own terms. This intrinsic quality of volunteering, of being able to ‘‘set your own stipulations’’ (Mrs Davidson), described as ‘‘the beauty of volunteering’’ by Ms Graham, is what makes many volunteers emphatic that there should be no financial rewards. ‘‘You volunteer because you want to. That’s reward enough,’’ says Mrs Dutton. This however can hide a strong sense of obligation to treat time in a ‘‘work-like’’ way and to be reliable for the sake of clients and other volunteers. This commitment to their role can still sit uncomfortably with changes imposed from ‘‘above’’ and which clash with the reasons for volunteering that come from the moral and ethical framework underpinning older volunteers’ actions. In their explanations for volunteering, volunteers referred to the underlying norms and values that influence their mindset and practice of volunteering, whether it is the work ethic, something that is in the ‘‘cultural air,’’ or recollections of what things were like in the past and the importance of continuing such traditions.9 Volunteers spoke of the importance of giving back to society, putting something back in. Some pointed to specific instances where they have received from society, which have motivated them to give back. Many older volunteers belonged to the cohort that understands the ‘‘citizen-soldier’’ as a social role.10 They saw volunteering as a ‘‘British tradition,’’ while referring specifically to uniformed groups. This was especially the case for men who had served in the forces and now volunteer in ex-servicemen organizations.11 Such a framework of values is often translated into services with ‘‘added value’’ often attributed to the voluntary sector. In Age Concern Newcastle, this is demonstrated in the following ways: And I mean you know, you get older people in and sometimes they just want to come in and have a chat because they live on their own and they’ve got no
9
Davis Smith and Gay (2005) refer to this as the existence of an ‘‘ethical legacy,’’ informed both by religious and humanistic impulses and a strong history of family commitment to volunteering and service.
10
Such roles are presently overtaken by professional roles (Turner 2001).
11
Cooper and Thomas (2002) refer to ‘‘communitas’’ as that idea of a collective or community. Some of their respondents who lived through the Second World War talked about the continuation of the ‘‘Dunkirk spirit.’’
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one to chat to, so if you’re not busy, you just let them sit there and chat you know. (Mrs Hetherington, current volunteer) I mean the first thing that comes to mind is me and other volunteers we’re keeping these clients happy at a very, very basic level and that possibly pre-empts possible crises, I don’t know, possible crises. It’s possibly, I hope, alleviating loneliness and isolation. So I see me-self as just one of the many, many strings, strings, is that the right word, you know, within the organization, one of the tiny cogs. (Ms Dodds, current volunteer) The values of altruism, mutual aid, and charitable giving underlying voluntary work has led to the voluntary sector being identified as being in a good position to advance the public interest. This has fed into government attempts to promote the voluntary sector as an equal partner to the state in public service provision. However, it is important that in this process, the values associated with voluntary action are not eroded by market-led practices. Rather, as some commentators have suggested, such values should be promoted and mainstreamed (Deakin 2001).
Concluding remarks That’s why I got into it, plus what I get out of it myself because there’s got to be a bit of self-interest there, altruism, you know, it can be ninety percent but you need to have something that, you know, you get a kick out of it, a contact out of it, you know. (Mr Moore, current volunteer) Volunteering is not purely altruistic and self-giving. Older people reported many intrinsic personal and social rewards from their volunteering work: And you do, you do feel rewarded when you’ve helped somebody when they go out and say, when you talk to them because they’ve been on their own, and they get up and say eh well thank you very much pet, you know. (Mrs Hetherington) The benefits of volunteering for older people may be described as: providing them with a structure, meaning, and purpose to their lives; a sense of belonging to a larger entity; satisfaction, enjoyment, and personal fulfillment through the work and relationships that are built up. This accords with the fact that ‘‘independence and mobility; preservation of their own identity and dignity; choice and control, and the ability to participate as fully as possible in society in terms of their choosing’’ have been identified as the fundamentals of substantive citizenship for older people (Craig 2004, p. 112). As an organization, Age Concern Newcastle’s mission and functions provide substantial support to older people and their volunteers. The organization encourages the participation and inclusion of older people, challenging negative images of older people as burdensome. Volunteers are key to the organization’s activities: ‘‘Volunteers assist in promoting opportunities for older people to be
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involved in defining their own needs, deciding on priorities and taking control over decisions which affect their own lives.’’ Support for volunteers in a family-like environment was referred to several times by various interviewees and it was evident that it enabled the organization to retain its volunteers through some difficult transitions. Nevertheless, the organization still works very hard to manage the pressures to innovate and to be enterprising, due to changes in funding streams, while at the same time maintaining the goodwill of volunteers and making sure they enjoy all the benefits of volunteering described above. Evidence from other organizations that operate within a ‘‘federal’’ system as Age Concern Newcastle does indicates that a collectivistic model of organization that maintains a commitment to local participation and empowerment is still possible (Milligan and Fyfe 2005). This paper has drawn upon lessons from one organization to highlight the importance of understanding the impact of reforms in the voluntary sector on organizations and individuals who participate in them. It suggests that such understanding is critical in order to develop the support structures and systems necessary to ensure that the valuable contribution of a diverse population of volunteers is not threatened. Acknowledgments Our appreciation goes to David Shipley, Volunteer Development Manager at Age Concern Newcastle, and the anonymous referees for their helpful comments on the paper. Most importantly, we would like to thank the UK Big Lottery Fund for funding the project, Professor Jane Wheelock, who led the research team, Age Concern Newcastle for their tremendous support, and all the research participants involved.
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