Publications

Our museum has had problems with one of the volunteers we regularly use to support our programme of town trails. We asked him to meet and take visitors from the museum to a starting point in town.

Other volunteers usually then just accompany the tour, because a trained guide leads the visitors around places of historic interest related to items in the collections.

But this volunteer 'talked over' the guide with his own alternative and historically inaccurate commentary. The guide complained. We told the volunteer we no longer needed him.

The volunteer then complained to other volunteers about the guide and about the museum dismissing him. The other volunteers feel we have acted harshly and we seem to be losing their goodwill. Would it be ethical to reinstate him?

You cannot of course allow the volunteer's behaviour to undermine your colleague, the guide. More importantly, you can't allow visitors to be misled. However, dismissal should be a last rather than first resort for all staff, including volunteers. Problems with paid and unpaid staff can usually be resolved before invoking disciplinary procedures, let alone dismissal.

Is it the volunteer who is a 'problem' or is it your training and supervision procedures? Perhaps your volunteer wasn't aware he was behaving inappropriately, in which case a friendly word might put matters right. Nobody can be expected to change or improve their work unless an issue has been brought to their attention.

Using volunteers is the only way many museums can carry out their work. It is important therefore that they are managed and supported in the same way as paid staff. The consequences of not doing so, a withdrawal of goodwill and ultimately of freely given time and effort, could cause serious damage to what a museum is trying to achieve.

If a volunteer isn't suited to front of house duties, despite training, perhaps he has more to offer and will be more fulfilled behind the scenes. The Museums Association can offer advice but ultimately it is you not the MA who must weigh up the pros and cons and decide whether or not to reinstate the volunteer in this case.

But what the MA would urge is that museums set up grievance and disciplinary procedures. Even if they are never used, procedures that allow complaints to be taken up through a well-defined route demonstrate commitment to staff, particularly volunteers who don't have the option of turning to an external tribunal.

The procedure should, for example, allow a volunteer to be accompanied in a meeting by a friend or colleague and to appeal. Take regular time out to think about why, how and who you use as volunteers. Exploiting cheap labour isn't a good enough reason.

Offering work experience that will help people into paid employment or make new friends is better. Best of all are mutually beneficial arrangements that add value to the museum and its role in the community.

Can your use of volunteers foster greater community participation and ownership of the work of the museum? Can it forge partnerships and broaden the scope of your educational provision? If you want these benefits, you must be prepared to invest in the volunteers who will bring them. This involves time, equipment, training and patience.