Volunteer Rights and Obligations

As an organisation that utilises many volunteers, it’s best practice to appoint a Volunteer Coordinator so their rights at your station are met.

The community broadcasting sector relies heavily on the contribution of volunteers for its operations and success. Key to recruiting and maintaining volunteer commitment and clarity of purpose is identifying and informing all volunteers of their rights and responsibilities in the station.

A lot of work has been done by organisations such as Volunteering Australia and you are probably already familiar with their definitions and principles of volunteering. Each community radio station has committed to the community radio Codes of Practice. These Codes have been developed by us, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA), in consultation with stations. The Codes of Practice also identify areas of responsibility for stations in relation to volunteer rights and responsibilities.

Code 2 states:

Principles of diversity and independence.

Purpose - To make sure that community radio stations have written policies and procedures in place that promote diversity and encourage community participation.

2.1 Our station will make sure that people in our community who are not adequately served by other media are encouraged and assisted to participate in providing our service. We will have in place policies and procedures to support this commitment. We will document evidence of our efforts to encourage community participation.

2.2 Our policies and procedures will include mechanisms to enable active participation by our community in station management, programming and general operations.

2.3 We will have policy documents in place that outline:

(a) the principles of volunteering,

(b) the rights and responsibilities of volunteers within the organisation,

(c) the rights and responsibilities of the organisation to volunteers, whether they are members or not, and

(d) grounds and procedures for the dismissal of volunteers.

2.4 All policy documents will be freely available.

2.5 In all station activities and our behaviour we will oppose and break down prejudice on the basis of ethnicity, race, language, gender, sexuality, age, physical or mental ability, occupation, religious, cultural or political beliefs.

There are also two examples of policies and procedures relating to the

management of volunteers in the Codes of Practice appendices. While they are not part of the codes, they cover the rights and responsibilities of volunteers and the right and responsibilities of the station in relation to managing volunteers.

In general, the principles that underpin volunteering acknowledge that an individual who chooses to volunteer, has the right to be treated fairly and with respect. The general sorts of obligations for volunteers include acting within the law and abiding by station policies or codes.

Each station should ensure it has a volunteer policy which includes the rights and responsibilities of volunteers and outlines the procedures which support them. You can use the examples in the Codes of Practice booklet as a starting point - see below.

Codes of Practice - Appendix 3: Rights and Responsibilities of Volunteers Example

Thanks to the Community Media Training Organisation for this resource.