A Volunteer by Any Other Name: Navigating the Contours of the "True Volunteer" in Canadian Employment Law (original) (raw)

The Meaning of Volunteering: The General and Constant Versus the Differentiating and Shifting

Foundations of Science, 2014

This comment concerns a twofold phenomenon, namely differentiations within the wide array of what is called civic engagement, including voluntary action; and shifts that sometimes blur the demarcation lines between the worlds of voluntary action and working life. How do these two developments affect the meaning of volunteering both on an analytical and on a public discourse level? Keywords Civic engagement • Volunteering • Work The core of Johan von Essen's fine article in this Journal is made up of the results of his interviews with volunteers on the meaning they give to their actions. He presents these results according to five recurrent themes, namely actions that are unpaid, for the benefit of others, voluntary, marked by engagement and community-oriented. In his conclusion, he focusses on one aspect. He argues and concludes that "volunteering is a practice whereby people can stand out as acting subjects in post-modern/late-modern society". It is in this perspective that he makes a statement about volunteering as being one of a variety of forms of action in the public realm of our societies. He underlines that these forms of action are different from work and labour on the one hand, and personal commitment in private communities on the other. In this view, volunteering is supposed to be an important and permanent feature of all societies that have a public sphere, as we can find in democratic republics, for instance. It is treated as having much in common with other forms of civic action that-according to Arendt-make people subjects and co-citizens of a political community with room for plurality. Volunteering is considered one example of a more general topic, namely that of 'authentic action in the public realm' of modern societies. While I generally subscribe to this viewpoint, my comment will focus on what differentiates volunteering from other forms of action. In addition to this, I will discuss the shifts that occur in the boundaries between work and private obligations. To illustrate this, I will give

When Good Intentions Go Wrong: Immunity under the Volunteer Protection Act

Nonprofit Policy Forum, 2015

The Volunteer Protection Act (VPA) was enacted in 1997 to encourage volunteerism by protecting individuals from liability for their negligent actions while volunteering. Proponents intended to provide legal safeguards for volunteers, whom they claimed were deterred from volunteering by fears of liability. Little attention has been paid to this legislation since its enactment, however. This article examines the implementation and interpretation of the VPA through the lens of case law to determine whether the act has had its intended effects for volunteers. Our analysis of all court cases in which the VPA has been cited shows that volunteers are at risk for lawsuits over a variety of actions during the course of their volunteer activities. This analysis also demonstrates that although volunteers can avail themselves of the VPA’s protection, their success in invoking this defense is mixed.

Beneficiaries of volunteering: a bioethical perspective

OBJECTIVE: To describe volunteers’ perceptions of the benefi ciaries of volunteering within the hospital setting and the infl uence that the theme of benefi ts exercises on their motivations. METHODS: This is an exploratory study with a qualitative approach. One hundred and ten volunteers working in health services that are references for the treatment of cancer in Rio de Janeiro (Southeastern Brazil) are the subjects of this study. Data was collected between October and December 2001. Data was obtained by two instruments - a questionnaire which identifi es the socioeconomic profi le and the motivations for undertaking voluntary activity; and a semi-structured interview that provided complementary information. RESULTS: According to the volunteers’ perception, the benefi ciaries of voluntary activity were, primarily, the patient, (50.5%); secondarily the volunteer him/herself (41.9%); and least of all, the institution and the society in which these benefi ts are obtained (7.6%). Both the patient and the volunteer were considered simultaneously benefi ciaries, being that the volunteer tends to receive more benefi ts. A comprehension of the social benefi ts of this activity was also reported. CONCLUSIONS: A notion of the social importance of their volunteering was verifi ed among the volunteers. However, the study indicates that a larger articulation is lacking between individual motivations and volunteer work as a setting within which social problems may be confronted.

Volunteer Work and Its Interrelationship with the Labor Market

2021

By applying global standards presented in the ILO Manual to the Italian Aspects of Daily Life (ADL) Survey, the authors analyze volunteer work through the categories of traditional paid work in order to grasp similarities, innovative content, competences, and individual values. The empirical work analyzes the various volunteer occupations by means of the paid work global statistical classification system (ISCO), a major innovation proposed by the ILO Manual, which describes volunteer work activities and the socio-structural characteristics of volunteers by groups of occupations. This chapter further develops new insights into the impact of volunteering on the development of human capital by analyzing the competences and the values incorporated in the ten most common volunteer occupations. Thus, this chapter lays the groundwork for a new methodological approach to studying and legitimizing volunteering as a category of work.

Meanings of organizational volunteering: Diverse volunteer pathways

Management Communication Quarterly, 2014

Despite the practical need to cultivate individuals' engagement with nonprofit organizations and theoretical interest in volunteerism across multiple disciplines and perspectives, the conceptual boundaries of volunteering remain vague. Although definitions from the literature emphasize free will, lack of financial gain, and benefit to others, they do not consider how volunteers might integrate, negotiate, or reject these meanings when the demands of freedom and contribution collide. This study adopts a hybrid phenomenological perspective to explore what organizational volunteering meant to volunteers themselves. The findings show that the meanings that participants gave to volunteering were both agentic and relational and that volunteers negotiated agency and relationality in a dynamic way. The article discusses the theoretical implications for how researchers define organizational volunteering and the meaning of work in nonstandard work environments, as well as the practical implications for volunteer management.

More Than a ‘Little Act of Kindness’? Towards a Typology of Volunteering as Unpaid Work

Sociology, 2017

Definitions of volunteering are widespread and complex, yet relatively little attention is given to volunteering as unpaid work, even though it intersects with the worlds of paid employment and the domestic sphere, cutting across individual/collective and public/private spaces. This article advances a typology of volunteering work (altruistic, instrumental, militant and forced volunteering/‘voluntolding’) that illuminates the complexity and dynamism of volunteering. Using qualitative data from a study of 30 volunteers to explore practices of volunteering as they unfold in daily life, the typology provides much-needed conceptual building blocks for a theory of ‘volunteering as unpaid work’. This perspective helps transcend the binaries prevalent in the sociology of work and provides a lens to rethink what counts as work in contemporary society. It also invites further research about the effects of ‘voluntolding’ on individuals and society, and on the complex relationship between volu...