Volunteer Rewards and Recognition Package - Assignment Help

• Statement of Importance

Sense of accomplishment is invaluable for every individual and addition of rewards and recognition package in volunteer management plan is suitable for enhancing the sense of accomplishment among volunteers. It has been identified from research that rewards and recognition are important for appreciating the efforts of volunteers, which then develops sense of belonging among volunteers towards specific organization (Young & McChesney, 2013). It has been stated by Alfes, Antunes & Shantz (2017) that as volunteers are not get paid, so rewards and recognition are highly important for keeping them motivated and engaged. 

The focal area for rewards and recognition package will be welfare volunteers, with specific focus on Australian Foundation for Disability, which is mainly recognized as AFFORD. The key emphasis of organization is on supporting the people who are living with either physical or intellectual disability, within Sydney. The volunteers at AFFORD give their precious time to volunteering for community, and they might make lot of sacrifices in their personal lives. The rewards and recognition are of huge importance for appealing the contribution of volunteers and for providing them with opportunities to spend some valuable time with their families and loved ones (Ferreira, Proença & Proença, 2012a). Based on rewards and recognition of volunteers within AFFORD, they will most likely feel valued to lay individual contributions for supporting the living of disable people within Australia. The volunteers will be motivated when they will be offered rewards and their efforts will be recognized (Ferreira, Proença & Proença, 2012b). The motivation will lead to their long run contribution towards the achievement of AFFORD’s cause and thus the organization will become able to attract more volunteers through positive word of mouth of existing volunteers. 

The rewards and recognition have largely been discussed by theorists of motivation, stating that intrinsic rewards and recognition contributes in improvement of psychological circumstances of individuals (Winterich, Mittal & Aquino, 2013). When employees are offered rewards, recognition and respect within an organization, then desirable behaviors of workers can be encouraged (Young & McChesney, 2013). The concepts of theory can be used for assuring that rewards and recognition programs are developed in the manner, which could foster motivation of volunteers. Therefore, the prospects can be enhanced for assuring the long run retention of volunteers within AFFORD. 

• Why is Rewards and Recognition Important for Volunteer Management program of AFFORD? 

Enhancement of Volunteers’ Morale: The rewards and recognition program will help AFFORD to show concern towards volunteers which will assure that any welfare tasks assigned with them are met in effective way. The recognition of volunteers’ contribution can then lead to enhancement of satisfaction and morale of volunteers, which can further their willingness to work as volunteer in AFFORD. 

Increase in Productivity of AFFORD: The increased morale and encouragement of volunteers through reward and recognition scheme will contribute in enhancing the productivity of AFFORD. It is aligned with views of Wang & Wu (2014) that well recognized and rewarded workers are source of productivity enhancement within organization, which is needed for long run existence of a welfare organization. 

Attainment of AFFORD’s Volunteer’s Retention: The recruitment of volunteers require substantial amount of resource and time, which could be avoided by making reliance on effective retention of volunteers (Law, Siu & Shek, 2012). The rewards and recognition can help AFFORD to encourage its existing volunteers to continue working with the organization. The appreciation for work can enable volunteers to stay connected with AFFORD and thus goal of volunteer’s retention can be achieved.