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A Different Kind Of Burnout:
When Volunteers Feel Useless
By Anna Somers
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I WAS FEELING WASHED-OUT, UNDER-APPRECIATED,
AND MOST OF ALL, BORED.
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Our director looked despondent. "Jeanie's quitting," she said. Jeanie had just joined the center as a volunteer receptionist. "Why so soon?" I asked.
"She feels like she doesn't have anything to do here." I could have guessed. You see—that's the same reason I was thinking of quitting.
I was a volunteer counselor at a small center in a rural community. It was not uncommon for me to show up for my shift and leave four hours later without speaking to a single person. When I joined the center, I was excited to engage in hands-on ministry and to keep up the counseling skills I had learned while working with at-risk youth in college. Now, like Jeanie, I was feeling washed-out, under-appreciated, and most of all, bored.
Our director tried her hardest to keep us occupied. While I knew the tasks she assigned me were important, I constantly found myself grumbling, "I spent 20 hours of counselor training so that I could stuff envelopes?" That sinful pride nearly drove me to leave a very critical ministry. If I had acted on my first impulses, I would have missed important lessons in servanthood.
As volunteers, and as Christians in general, we should emulate the attitude that Jesus had, "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant" (Philippians 2:6-7a). I doubt that Jesus ever prayed to His Father, "You've got to be kidding, Dad. Here I am, the King of Heaven, and You expect me to get down on my knees and wash this guy's smelly feet?" No matter how much training we've received or how gifted we think we are, we should never feel like a job at the center is beneath us.
We find a great admonition, as well as a great promise, in Colossians 3:23-24: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord ... knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward."
In the heavenly scheme of things, I don't think it makes much difference if we spend a day presenting the
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WE SHOULD WORK AROUND
THE COPY MACHINE AND THE PAPER SHREDDER
WITH THE SAME LOVE FOR GOD
AND OTHERS THAT WE WOULD SHOW
IN THE COUNSELING ROOM.
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truth to five hurting women, or if we faithfully fulfill the seemingly mundane tasks God has given us with a willing, humble heart. After all, it was Jesus Himself who taught that "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much" (Luke 16:10). We should work around the copy machine and the paper shredder with the same love for God and others that we would show in the counseling room. Sure, you might not have thought your calling was to stamp brochures when you signed up to volunteer. But to paraphrase Paul's words to the Corinthians, whether you make a photocopy or give a pregnancy test, "or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
On the other hand, if you are the director of a slower center, you might find the following advice useful in helping to keep your volunteers from feeling like Jeanie and me.
- Don't give us busy work just to keep us busy. There's a difference between jobs that need to be done and jobs that you come up with just to keep your volunteers occupied. Your volunteers can tell the difference.
- Don't leave your least favorite jobs for us, especially if you are being paid to do them. There is certainly nothing wrong with delegating tasks and asking your volunteers to help you fulfill your job descriptions. Just remember, a job you hate doing, even though you receive a paycheck each month for doing it, is probably going to be even more distasteful to someone who does not receive any monetary compensation for it.
- Find out about our interests and gifts, and give us the chance to use them. One volunteer at our center loved organizing. When things were slow, she kepy busy rearranging the baby boutique. Since I like to write, one of my favorite jobs at the center was coming up with questions to go along with the Earn While You Learn videos. When your volunteers are doing something they love, even if it isn't personally interacting with clients, they will certainly leave their shift feeling more satisfied and less restless.
- Enjoy getting to know us, and encourage fellowship within the center. One of the biggest reasons I didn't quit counseling was that I loved spending time with my director and the other workers at the center. While it's not practical for you to devote your entire workday to gabbing with your volunteers, make sure that you're not so busy that you miss out on getting to know them. This will also keep your center strong if all your workers are being built up and are building up one another.
- Appreciate us! While volunteers and counselors at busy centers need special care to prevent emotional exhaustion, workers at slower centers also need special attention to prevent a different kind of burnout. Let your volunteers know that you appreciate the fact that they show up. Hear them out if they're frustrated with the pace of things. In addition, always remind them of the wonderful encouragement found in Scripture: "Be ... always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).
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