The biggest hit was the member who volunteered to give neck and shoulder massages in the conference headquarters room to frazzled committee members. In most cases, these are tasks that would never become full-time jobs. And in some cases, they would never be paid for despite how much they add to the success of a venture. In addition, these volunteer job descriptions make use of the unique talents or traits of the people contributing their time. No matter how expert employees may be, they still have a finite set of skills.
Employees also tend to be homogeneous in terms of educational background and age range.
Volunteers therefore diversify what the paid staff can offer to the recipients of service. Make sure that volunteer assignments make use of younger and older people, distinct life experiences, different occupational skills, different languages, and new perspectives. Finally, make use of the gift of volunteers to focus on one thing at a time. Employees must always divide their attention among a full client case load or to everyone requesting service. Volunteers, however, can be recruited specifically to spend all their hours on one child, one research project, one specialized task.