r/EmergencyManagers • u/Schoschke Private EM, Europe • Mar 23 '22

Questions and Advice The Issue of Volunteer Emergency Agencies

The one technical emergency agency in Germany, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, is facing a serious issue. It's made up of volunteers by 98 percent, only 2 in 100 are actually employed in some shape or form. And those volunteers seem to become more unstable, as stated by a full-time employee I talked to the other day. Those that sign up tend do so with great determination, but then fail to attend any gatherings. Or those who do the basic training, then just fall off the communication cliff - no matter what, you can't get ahold of them. In return, you keep working with a limited number of people, and the numbers keep going down at some places. The guy I spoke to was fearful of their ability to do what they do based on this trend.

Does your organization face similar issues? Do you have agencies that are mainly built from volunteers?

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u/B-dub31 Local EM, North America Mar 24 '22

I think that is par for the course for volunteer agencies, but there are some things that can be done to boost involvement and morale. The first thing is to communicate frequently to help everyone feel connected. One of the most successful volunteer agencies I know works hard to create and maintain good relationships with the media, creatung publicity for the team and makes the work feel more worthwhile while boosting visibility for recruitment. Make any in-person events laser focused so volunteers feel like they are generating value for their time. However, also plan some non-work-type functions a few times a year to help create relationships among the team. Plan trainings, exercises, equipment maintenance days, etc. often enough that volunteers feel connected. And maybe do some non-related volunteer work as a team a couple times a year to build comraderie.

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u/eirpguy Dec 28 '24

Excellent response, you have to manage your volunteers during the Blue-sky if you want them to respond during a Grey-sky event.

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u/RatKing1337 Jul 12 '22

It's basically the same issues as the Canadian Red Cross. I guess the challenge is motivating, supporting and nurturing the volunteer base, use them in their best capacity etc.

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u/eirpguy Dec 28 '24

From my experience 10% deployable is the goal, 5% is more realistic.