Tips for Onboarding Volunteers

Have you ever been part of a growing business organization that was so desperately in need of new employees? Perhaps they had to rush through their established hiring process simply to assimilate more people. This is a common issue in the church as well. Onboarding church volunteers is a process that can be very tricky.

As your church grows, so grows the array of serving opportunities and the need for more volunteers.  Even though we want to eliminate all barriers to volunteer participation, it is critical to create and follow a consistent onboarding process for each new volunteer.
The panic to add more volunteers to a church volunteer base may be induced by church growth. It could also be a factor of volunteer ineffectiveness. Whatever the issue is in your church, it is important to develop an onboarding process that is effective. A consistent onboarding process helps to ensure that a church can get the additional volunteers needed, but that the volunteers are appropriately and efficiently vetted and approved. The consistency can break down when each department or ministry has a different onboarding process for new volunteers.

This series discusses how to increase participation from your volunteers. There is no better advertisement for new volunteers than when existing volunteers exhibit joy and fulfillment for everyone to see. When the volunteer base is growing, it is a sign that the church is also healthy and growing. But the ultimate goal is not simply to fill slots, but to place volunteers in positions where they can thrive and commit for the long haul. A cogent system for onboarding new volunteers will assist in finding service fit and will allow volunteers to speak freely about their volunteer service.

In this video:

We explain the advantages of a proper system for onboarding new volunteers. We also introduce a five-step process to assist you in this effort.