By Maggie Mojab
Writing for the NVFC
The fire service asks a lot from its volunteers, and retaining personnel has become increasingly challenging over the last few decades. Leadership challenges, lack of resources, incentive concerns, time demands–these are just a few of the issues we point to when volunteers don’t stay with the fire department as long as we would like. But just as important as understanding why volunteers leave is knowing why they stay. What are the qualities and needs of volunteers who do continue to serve?
- A Solution to Volunteer Recruitment and Retention: Training
- Joe Nedder: Recruitment + Training = Retention
- Reevaluating Firefighter Recruitment: Finding the Best People
Not surprisingly, studies have shown that those who choose long-term paths as volunteer firefighters display altruism, or a concern for the welfare of others. In addition to helping others, personal satisfaction, learning new skills, and doing something worthwhile in their community contribute to volunteer fulfillment. Research also consistently shows that a sense of community and belonging is a major factor in offsetting the time commitment of being a volunteer.
Let’s take a more in-depth look at three of these factors that motivate people to stay in the fire service: helping others, doing something worthwhile in their community, and social gain within the department. Whether or not volunteers choose to remain with a fire department, they will still look for a way to fulfill these three needs. So, the question is, can departments shape their programming, training, and culture to ensure their organization can meet these volunteer needs?
Helping Others
Consider this: when you ask friends to help with something, you usually try to offer something in return. Most of the time, this doesn’t include monetary reimbursement, but rather a simple thing that can go a long way, such as lending an ear when they have a problem or baking their favorite dessert. That’s because for most people who value altruism, it’s the thought that counts. Turning this to volunteer departments, what can they do to fulfill volunteer needs to ensure that what they are getting back is worth the effort they are putting in? Let’s break this down a bit further.
When thinking about a person’s need to give back to their community by helping others, two important things must occur. The first is the actual act of the volunteer contributing to the welfare of someone who is in need. This part requires little effort by the department since the primary role of a firefighter or EMS provider is to help those in need. The department is providing an avenue through which the volunteer can give back. However, just like in the previous example of the friend who offers a helping hand, volunteers, too, like to know they are appreciated, even if it is not explicitly requested. This could be as simple as acknowledgment, thanking and recognizing them for the work they have done. This could be accomplished verbally, in writing, or through something like an award or acknowledgement on the department’s social media pages.
The second consideration is to make sure the volunteer is adequately prepared to help others. Studies show that non-volunteers have an inherent fear of lacking the skills needed to do the job right. This may prevent them from joining the volunteer fire service, even though the desire and passion exists. Start with a consistent and thorough onboarding process that includes training on the history of the volunteer fire service, the new member’s role within the department, finding the balance between work, life, and volunteering. These important topics will help prepare the recruit for service. The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has a seven-course New Recruit Track in its Virtual Classroom that is designed to help with this onboarding process.
When thinking about retaining volunteers, an important factor is training and equipping those volunteers for the job at hand. Making the safety and wellbeing of the responder a priority in these efforts is also key in demonstrating that the department cares and is a place worth the commitment it takes to remain with the department.
Community Involvement
Now, let’s look at volunteers’ need to do something worthwhile in the community. It’s up to departments to understand what this means to each individual volunteer and work to make members’ time spent at the department worthwhile. This is an ongoing process. People change, and so do their needs and desires. Your helpful friend may have spent years working on restoring cars in his or her free time, but more recently enjoys learning about how to re-purpose old furniture. The same is true at the department, and this sometimes has to do with changing circumstances. Those firefighters who went on every call in their 20s may find they prefer to focus on fire prevention education now that they have a family and less time available. Letting members adapt their roles to meet their current needs, interests, abilities, and season of life could be the difference between keeping or losing the volunteer.
The Social Element
When thinking about social gain as a benefit, research shows that people view the community aspect of volunteering as a source of social support. For volunteers, the fire department is a place to satisfy their need to belong. We must understand that every person is inherently different, has a background that may not be similar to ours, and may have very different needs from their peers. Back to our example of the helpful friend: Rather than giving to receive, volunteers may view their efforts as an investment in a long-term friendship, support system, social network, or a place simply to feel seen and heard. Considering the unexpected hardships that we all experience at some point in time; having a place that feels warm, compassionate, safe, and non-judgmental can be extremely valuable. With so much time required of fire service volunteers, it is important that the fire department, from leadership down, foster this inclusive and family-like culture so that volunteers continue to find the fire department a place they want to be.
Fire service volunteers are interested in something different than monetary gain. The reason volunteers show up every day is to fulfill deeper, more meaningful needs and desires. To keep volunteers motivated, engaged, and serving, it is important that departments understand the reasons why their members volunteer and strive to meet these needs.
Maggie Mojab is a program coordinator at the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), where she oversees all virtual education and training. She started her nonprofit career at the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and has eight years of experience developing and executing programs, projects, and events. She is currently enrolled in a Master of Clinical Psychology program at Pepperdine University.
