Volunteers in the Service Industries
The issue of volunteering in the service industries is one of ongoing and growing concern, with particular relevance to the sport, fitness, outdoor and community recreation industry.
This page aims to provide a library of work committed to the topic of volunteering, with a strong focus on workforce development and increasing productivity.
Getting on Track for Change: Sport and Recreation Workforce Development
Service Skills Australia has consulted with industry and drawn together a range of issues affecting the long-term outlook of the sport and recreation industry. The result, Getting on Track for Change, argues for a clear, co-ordinated approach to planning and developing the paid and unpaid workforces in Sport, Fitness, Community Recreation and Outdoor Recreation.
Reflecting on recent transformations in the sport and recreation industry (as well as general workforce, social and consumer trends), Getting on Track for Change argues that workforce development—incorporating the key issues of leadership and improved support for volunteers—is the central avenue for adequately addressing and responding to the shifting landscape.
Not 'Just a Volunteer': Embracing concepts and approaches from the paid sector
On account of their valuable contributions, volunteers are regularly (and favourably) attached to phrases that praise their 'important contribution'. However, volunteers' needs for flexible arrangements, access to education and training, and greater alignment between their individual skills and the tasks that they perform can often go unmet or be largely neglected. Moreover, regardless of whether a task is being performed by (paid) employed staff or (unpaid) volunteers, the quality of skill required to perform this role is the same.
This paper aims to generate debate on how volunteer-utilising organisations (VUOs) can benefit from innovating approaches to recruiting, coordinating and retaining volunteers through greater adoption of commonplace practices associated wiht the paid sector. Furthermore, it also proposes models for better understanding individual volunteer's levels of enthusiasm, skill and motivation.
Discuss, Display, Do: Skills Recognition for the Service Industries
This project aims to develop and pilot a Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) model suitable to the needs of volunteers and Volunteer Utilising Organisations. Discuss, Display, Do has linkages to priorities in the Sport and Recreation and other related service industry sectors, namely in providing a more responsive training system (including RPL) and addressing skilled worker requirements.
Pathways to Participation
This project will see the NSW Sports Federation work with Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and targeted National and State Sporting Organisations (NSOs & SSOs) to identify the barriers that currently exist in aligning sport industry training with the National Training System.
One of the identified project outcomes is to encourage mature age people and young people who participate as volunteers in the NSW sport industry to access the National Training System.
Workforce Development for Volunteers in the Service Industries
This issues paper builds upon the latest research (as well as discussions from the documents below) and generates recommendations for next steps on further research, new policy settings and workforce development.
Environmental Scan 2010: Sport, Fitness, Outdoor & Community Recreation
The Environmental Scan has been developed in partnership with industry and provides an sector-specific overview of trends and changes in sport, fitness, outdoor & community recreation industry.
This document makes frequent reference to the relevance of volunteering in these particular workforce sectors.
Read the 2010 Environmental Scan and sector reports
