Society for Healthcare Volunteer Leaders

Tuesday, September 12, 2023 9:34 AM

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Message # 13253307

Tracy Johnsen

Hey there Everyone! I am curious . . . Does anyone NOT do their own volunteer Orientation, but instead send new volunteers to attend Employee Orientation?

I have a rather new colleague in our health system (said lightly as we are not close to a system yet). She informed me yesterday that she is just going to have the volunteers attend HR orientation with employees. I thought it was ODD, but she said her HR told her that is the standard procedure. This does not seem accurate to me, so I thought I would ask here to see if I am just not "in the know"

Thanks in Advance for your insight.

-Tracy Johnsen

Wednesday, September 13, 2023 12:47 AM

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Reply # 13253704 on 13253307

Arlette Cunningham

Hello Tracy,

It is not unheard of. In 2004, I was voluntold that I had to take responsibility for a sister hospital after the coordinator left. The volunteers there I was told attended the employee's orientation coordinated by the Security department. The compromise was that they still need to be orientated by my department since there are policies and procedures, rules and regulation concerning volunteers service that the volunteers needed to know. Nine months later, I had to take responsibility for a second sister hospital in the same borough. To keep the consistency those volunteers attended that orientation as well.

Wednesday, September 13, 2023 11:44 AM

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Reply # 13253919 on 13253307

Julie Holmes

When COVID made us reset, we came up with an orientation that we email out to our Volunteers. We set a reminder in Volgistics and after they are here for 30 days, the email is sent out. There is a response attached to the email, so we are able to print out the response and file it in their folders for compliance. This has worked very well for us, it is easy to update and you don't "miss" anyone due to schedule conflicts.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 9:14 AM

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Reply # 13268730 on 13253307

Karla Bachl

I understand where your institutions are coming from with trying to save on resources. I would be very careful mixing employees and volunteers. Legally there should be a very clear delineation of the two. From the volunteer perspective, they should never feel like employees that are paid or have the responsibilities that an employee should. Expectations, values, organizational behaviors, etc should be consistent. My recommendation would be they are clearly defined in the orientation what is applicable to whom.

Friday, October 20, 2023 9:17 AM

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Reply # 13269659 on 13253307

Jill Cofer

I agree with Karla. Though volunteers are also "staff" (per our JC speaker at conference) there are sections of paid employee orientation that just don't apply. Though I don't use the term "orientation" - our potential volunteers get a handbook along with the confidentiality and health history forms. When they come on board, the are paired with a mentor to demonstrate tasks (like wheelchair cleaning) and required to read through a resource manual (policies, JC info) within their first 30 days.

Saturday, October 21, 2023 10:09 AM

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Reply # 13270014 on 13253307

Christi Brown

My response is similar to many others that would have a concern with Volunteers participating in an employee orientation. Besides all the specific employee benefit-related activities that occur that would not be relevant to volunteers (insurances, retirement, IRS documentation, etc.), they would not receive the specific volunteer information needed to be successful, which would then require an additional orientation/meeting from volunteer leadership. I think many of us would agree that volunteers already spend a lot of time with on-boarding activities, so this would add even more time to that process. Volunteers definitely need to be part of the organization's team but having them so closely aligned with the employment process would be concerning.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023 10:08 AM

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Reply # 13271358 on 13253307

Sara Camic (Administrator)

Ditto to everything Christy Brown said! Our Employee Orientation is a full day, in-person experience from 8:30am - 4:30pm on Mondays. It would be a HUGE barrier to require volunteers to attend, when most of the topics wouldn't pertain to them, and many of them are students/full time employees. Our orientation process is about 15-30 minutes of general with me in person, a 1.5 online component, then whatever is specific to their area (and that varies greatly).

Monday, October 30, 2023 3:05 PM

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Reply # 13273358 on 13253307

Jan Verbeck

Our orientation is similar to Sara's. I do it individually with each person. Takes about 1 hour. I do include some of the components of NEO (safety, code of conduct), but tailor it to volunteers and how it pertains to them specifically in their role here.

Wednesday, November 01, 2023 12:59 PM

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Reply # 13274231 on 13253307

Nancy Beckner

Our volunteer orientation is done online and all the material is updated yearly based on things covered in the employee onboarding that pertains to volunteers. Employee onboarding would be a waste of time for volunteers because so much of it doesn't pertain to a volunteer.