Volunteer Service Lead in Dorchester

Volunteers are the heartbeat of Weldmar, and their contribution in our shops, at our hospice, and in the community is vital. We are looking for a dynamic Volunteer Services Lead to ensure Weldmar remains the charity of choice for people across our community wanting to donate their time to a good cause. Working collaboratively within the People Services team, you will ensure our volunteers are valued, respected, and expertly integrated into every aspect of our work.

You’ll already be a specialist in volunteer management, ideally holding an ILM Excellence in Volunteer Management Award or possessing equivalent extensive experience. You have a gift for building relationships, a knack for solving people-related issues, and a genuine passion for the value volunteers bring to a charity. A Basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check is required for this role. This is a hybrid role working between home and our offices in Dorchester.

Main duties of the job

• Create and implement a volunteer strategy that aligns with our five-year organisational goals.
• Act as the go-to specialist, coaching and advising managers on how to best support and develop their volunteer teams.
• Be an ambassador for Weldmar at career fairs and events, building diverse external partnerships to grow our volunteer workforce.
• Lead on volunteer engagement surveys and use data to identify trends, celebrate successes, and drive continuous improvement.
• Plan and host key annual events to recognise the incredible impact our volunteers make.

About us

Weldmar Hospicecare provides specialist care for adults in Dorset who have a life limiting illness, and support for their loved ones. We are dedicated to fostering a culture of equality, diversity, and inclusion across all aspects of our organisation.

Job responsibilities

• Ensuring that we attract the right applicants with the right skills at the right time, as identified through the workforce planning process, in order to support the charity's strategy.
• Proactively engaging with managers to determine recruitment needs and how best to address them.
• Working with the Recruitment Advisor to review job adverts and advertising methods to ensure they attract the best talent in line with employment legislation and Weldmar's guidelines.
• Identify and attend Career Fairs, Volunteer Events, Schools, etc. in order to build relationships and raise the profile of the breadth of volunteering opportunities at Weldmar.
• Responsible for creating and implementing, in conjunction with the Senior Leadership Team and People Services Business Partners, a Volunteer Strategy that aligns with the overall organisational five-year strategy.
• Accountable for working with management providing expert support, advice and guidance on utilising volunteers within the workplace.
• Coach, advise and support managers on any workplace issues that may arise involving volunteers.
• Ensure consistency across all areas of Weldmar relating to policies, procedures and best practice.
• Ensure volunteer accessibility of information both online and by way of direct mailing.
• Understand the requirements of Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018 in relation to information held on volunteers.
• Work with the Education and Development Team to support the delivery of mandatory and statutory training.
• Analyse potential barriers to volunteering and promote benefits.
• Work with the various departments to promote awareness of volunteering by producing content for adverts, posters and Weldmar's website.
• Proactively identify areas where volunteers could add value and discuss these with the relevant leadership and People Business Partners.
• Coach, guide and support the People Services team on the administration of volunteer services in respect of recruitment, and onboarding processes including pre-joining check.
• Co-design and co-deliver Induction Training including to all new joiners.
• Ability to plan and organise workload, working autonomously or as part of a team, ensuring deadlines are met whilst dealing with frequent interruptions.
• Responsible for financial and material resources, individual records, database, policies, handbook, role guidelines, promotional leaflets.
• Provide expert support and advice on the best use of volunteers, to ensure a consistent approach to the use of volunteers across Weldmar.
• Develop and implement the vision for the future role of volunteers within Weldmar, ensuring volunteers work flexibly and encouraging employees to embrace new ways of working with volunteers, encouraging integration within their teams.
• Lead on developing Weldmar's Volunteer Policy and procedural documents and contribute actively to all policies relating to volunteers.
• Lead on developing the Volunteer Handbook, and compiling the Volunteer Welcome Pack.
• Lead on content and delivery of a Volunteer Engagement Survey and Pulse Surveys, and analyse results and trends.
• Maintain an up to date knowledge of legislative and regulatory and professional developments to give line managers and volunteers up to date relevant information.
• Provide expert advice and guidance to line managers on recruitment and retention of volunteers, specifically providing support when dealing with volunteers who do not meet role guidelines or with issues of capability.
• In conjunction with the Education and Development Team ensure training and support is in place for volunteers in line with all relevant policies and role guidelines as set out in the Volunteer Training Programme.
• Attend organisational wide focus groups and meetings as the expert adviser on volunteer issues.
• Provide expert advice and support to the Volunteer Forum, including Terms of Reference and Annual Report.
• Responsible for developing and maintaining good relations with external partners with a particular focus on encouraging more younger volunteers through programmes such as Duke of Edinburgh Award.
• Responsible for volunteer long service awards process, maintain data and arrange for presentations to be made to volunteers at the Annual Volunteer Celebration Event or as appropriate for the recipient.
• Work alongside the Marketing Team during key events to capture stories, photos and film of volunteers at work, and produce publicity material to raise the profile of volunteering.
• Ensure complementary therapist volunteer membership and insurance is current and held on file.
• Support the People Associates to advise applicable volunteers regarding creating and maintaining a DAVIS account (volunteer driver licence and vehicle checks), and monitor compliance.
• Responsible for collecting, analysing and providing statistical information and reports on Key Performance Indicators including volunteer activity, recruitment and retention, equality, diversity and inclusion, complaints and transgressions across Weldmar on a quarterly basis.
• Represent Weldmar as a member of the Hospice Volunteer Managers Network (HVMN) in the South West Region to share information on best practice, problem solving, project management and relevant training.
• Attend in-house and external training in order to develop and maintain own knowledge and ability to provide information and advice to line managers working with volunteers.
• Responsible for editorial production and circulation of the volunteer newsletter, and writing regular articles for the staff newsletter on points of interest surrounding volunteers.
• Support the People Associates regarding Disclosure & Barring Services (DBS) checks on volunteers using uCheck. This includes renewing the DBS checks every three years for applicable roles, and updating the volunteer database.

Person Specification

• The post holder ideally will have achieved the Institute of Leadership and Management Excellence in Volunteer Management Award, or have equivalent extensive experience and proven track record in volunteer management.
• Specialist knowledge of the roles, relationship with, and contribution made by volunteers ideally within a charity setting.
• High level of administration skills, including advanced knowledge of administration systems and procedures and management information.
• Advanced computing skills, including Microsoft Office applications and databases.
• Extensive knowledge, skills and experience of working with volunteers, to offer specialist advice and support to managers on all volunteer issues.
• Experience of dealing with challenging and sometimes complex people related issues such as mediation, conduct, capability, ill health and having difficult conversations.
• Extensive experience of administration, ideally within a voluntary sector environment.
• Experience of collating and drafting information and report writing.
• Experience of analysing, compiling and presenting statistical information and insights.
• Experience of managing own tasks using judgement when required.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including networking, influencing and persuasion, and being able to engage with stakeholders at all levels.
• Excellent organisational skills, including planning and prioritising across a wide variety of tasks, including ability to co-ordinate and prioritise complex issues to ensure deadlines and cycles are met.
• Excellent analytical skills and ability to produce statistics and reports.
• Excellent communication skills, including ability to draft correspondence, deliver presentations, and host events.
• Team player and ability to work supportively and collaboratively with colleagues.
• Commitment to the contribution of volunteers within a charitable organisation.
• Respect for professional boundaries and ability to maintain confidentiality at all times.
• Excellent people management skills, and commitment to volunteer development.
• A Basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check which will disclose any unspent convictions or conditional cautions.
• Commitment to the values and ethos of Weldmar Hospicecare.
• Act as an advocate and ambassador for the Charity.
• Commitment to and understanding of equality and diversity and how this translates into good practice.
• Understands and conforms to Weldmar Hospicecare infection prevention and health and safety policies and actively promotes best practice at all times.
• Commitment to own continued personal development.
• Ability to travel which requires a full valid driving licence and business insurance (if applicable).

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.