Volunteers have been an integral part of Western United, putting in remarkable amounts of time and effort to help the club in its first Hyundai A-League season.
No one knows this better at Western United than Executive Director of Human Resources, Shane Day, who has spent the past few months developing a Volunteer Management Plan for the club.
“I see it as establishing a framework of core elements to ensure the proactive management, engagement, development and recognition of individuals who freely give their time and efforts to an organisation,” he told Wyndham City.
“Our general approach to everything we do is to ensure we are as professional an organisation as we possibly can be. The management of our Volunteer Program is no different in this regard.
“We also wanted to ensure that our approach to this program is aligned to best practice wherever possible.”
“It’s been made pretty easy for us in identifying the key components as we are working with the eight core components from the National Standards which are effectively leadership/management, organisational commitment, defining volunteers’ roles, recruitment & selection, support & development, wellbeing & safety, recognition, and continuous improvement.”
He added that the Western United staff, as well as Wyndham City and Volunteering Victoria, have been an enormous help with volunteer programs this season.
“We were really fortunate that a number of our senior staff have significant experience in setting up and managing volunteer programs so getting their feedback and ideas was critical in establishing our thinking.
“Wyndham City and Volunteering Victoria have been a huge support to us.
“The assistance from both organisations in helping us understand the National Standards for Volunteer Involvement has been fantastic. As has the network of other organisations we have been involved with who are also working through the National Standards.
“The great thing is we are all learning together and bouncing ideas off each other, and making friendships which has been great.”
Click here for more information around the Volunteering Services and Resources that Wyndham City have to offer.
