Volunteer and Work, Essay Example

“While altruism is arguably the best motivator for enlisting with a charitable organization, there are many tangible personal advantages to giving your time for non-profit work.” (Sapristil, 2009).  Hello operations and management team. Today we will discuss changes to the Human Resources policy manual for outsourcing. In order to implement a better plan to aide you ladies and gentlemen that work very avidly in the field I feel it would be important for us to discuss some volunteer or work we do at home, perhaps some work that we feel is very passionate to us. Then we will compare the feelings we get with that work to the feelings we get when we work here at the plant. The goal is to come to a common achievement to make work more enjoyable for all of us here because after all a happy worker is a more productive worker. Some examples might be work you are doing for your children or your neighbour or work on a hunting camp or perhaps some volunteer work you do at your children’s school or civic volunteer work. These are just some examples. Feel free to share any extra-curricular or non-paid work habits you are presently involved in other than those at work.

I will open the floor to help you out and perhaps share two of my volunteer work experiences in the past. I am not currently involved in them now but I have conducted these activities voluntarily (without pay) within the past five years. One volunteer work that I have accomplished was at a nursing home in New Orleans, LA. I would assist other activity helpers with the geriatric patients three days a week. I was in charge of facilitating the bingo games, reading to some patients, taking some to beauty parlour appointments and assisting with light feeding of some patients. What I gained from this work is self-satisfaction that I was making another human being feel good about themselves and I was not getting paid for it. My reward was internal happiness. I felt wanted and needed and I would get a feeling of grandeur when the patients would tell me that they loved me. Further when some snobby patients would tell me I did not know how to call the bingo balls and I was too slow, I would chuckle too myself and say, “My how I love this job!”  I often would volunteer to assist at my children’s school functions such as Relay for Life and the candy sales to raise money for the school. Though these functions were quite boring it was by duty to help my child’s school and to make my child feel like I really cared about her school. People go to their regular jobs for money and try to find some kind of personal accomplishment in their work to make them feel wanted or needed at work because a career is a life long commitment. The difference with a voluntary job is we choose to do the work and the reward is self-fulfilment hence we do not have to search for inner fulfilment, it is already present. Sometimes in life people really love their job forever but that is really scarce because a job is daily and one has to motivate themselves constantly to go to work day after day, year after year.

Other operators shared similar experiences with working on tree houses for their children and assisting with coaching little league baseball and football teams. Some of the operators assisting with volunteer teaching classroom training for young adolescents wishing to receive early career training at the local vocational school two Saturdays per month. “They noted that the volunteer work gave them a sense of internal accomplishment similar to the on the job experience however they did not feel the same pressures they felt on the job with relation to perform at a certain level.” (“Advantages of Becoming a Volunteer”).  They were able to perform more creative in certain areas because there was no pressure on them. Further their hearts went out to children who were from less fortunate families who genuinely showed an interest to learn. Working with children gave them a reason to continue their volunteer civic work. Receiving pay or money is not always a motivating factor to work. Money is a motivating factor on the job because money is needed to take care of the needs of the operators’ families and pay bills such as mortgages, put food on the table, pay for children’s education and buy other essentials for the operator’s family and his/herself. Many operators’ reported self-satisfaction on the job because they were producing chemicals that were needed in everyday life but they stated their volunteer work gave them much more pleasure because they were giving to individuals who were truly appreciative. They received praise on a one on one basis from the individuals they were helping. They could see the joy in the faces of the individuals of whom they offered their time to. They reported that even if they were lawyers or doctors making significant salaries the feeling would still be the same because a paid job is much different than a volunteer job. The difference is in the feeling that the reward gives the offering individual.

The operators felt at both paid work and volunteer work they were making a difference in people’s lives but more so with volunteer work because they could actually see the difference because of the one on one contact with the people. The volunteers were able to meet the needs of others and take the focus off of themselves. Giving of your time give you a sense of accomplishment which is very good for your self-worth and self-esteem. “Further volunteering allows you to see life in a whole new perspective.” (“Be a Volunteer”).

References

Be a Volunteer (2009) Retrieved November 3, 2009 from, http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/thought/volunteering.html

Sapristil (2009) The Personal Benefits of Volunteer Work 88 Retrieved November 3, 2009 from, http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Personal-Benefits-of-Volunteer-Work

Advantages of Becoming a Volunteer (2009) Retrieved December 3, 2009 from, http://proficientwriters.com/view_order/236462