A few volunteers and some interns work more directly with clients and are assigned some cases of their own. In response, we asked each volunteer to choose specific duties at which to become expert. As a small agency, we do not have a volunteer coordinator and the duties associated with supervising volunteers falls on me as the Director. We have recently implemented a hierarchy of paid and volunteer staff so that every volunteer knows to whom they can go with questions as they perform their duties. This, in addition to assigning regular duties, has made my job a bit easier since volunteers can go to other staff or more experienced volunteers with questions.
Volunteers receive constant supervision.
I review all work completed by other staff and volunteers, checking for consistency of service and documentation and providing feedback. Since evaluation is an ongoing process, only those volunteers who are working for academic credit or with whom there are problems are formally evaluated on a quarterly or annual basis. Volunteers maintain detailed time sheets in their personnel files that enable me to later go back and review the types of duties they performed when, years later, I am asked to provide references. We try to regularly show our appreciation for our volunteers. I am lenient in allowing them to eat lunch while they are working and, as long as they notify me, miss shifts during exam times.