Staff member’s spouse wants to volunteer in the area where their spouse works.

In my experience, a spouse volunteering in the same area where their husband or wife works is not a good situation for several reasons. It has the potential of putting other staff members on the spot. This is especially true if the volunteering spouse inadvertently creates more work, is performing their tasks incorrectly, or just wants to hang around their spouse. Having the volunteer in the department can also cause the employee to hover over their spouse. The volunteering spouse may expect special treatment. Even more problematic, sometimes the volunteer will look to their spouse to call the shots instead of deferring to the volunteer leadership team. If the spouse of an employee expresses a desire to volunteer, they should complete the questionnaire process just like everyone else. It may be that the spouse would prefer to volunteer in a different area, and it is the staff member that is pushing them to volunteer in their department. Establish, as early as possible, that staff spouses are welcome and encouraged to volunteer, but not in an area where the employed spouse is working or is responsible.

One staff member shared the following story: “From time to time Martha* would come to the office to 'help out.' Her job was to file documents, but she was not consistent in where she filed items and never became familiar with the filling system. As a result, she had frequent questions for the two support staff members in the department, constantly interrupting their work. To complicate things, Martha was the wife of the department head. Whenever she was there, he was constantly hovering. Don't get me wrong, Martha is delightful; however, a different assignment would have been appropriate, such as helping with the monthly mailings, where she and the other volunteers could socialize to their heart’s content as they worked.

The problem we encountered by allowing Martha to work in her husband’s department was that it created confusion about who should be calling the shots relative to her work assignment. This dilemma had the effect of unsettling everyone concerned, including Martha, the volunteer supervisor, and the two employees in the department.” Written by a non-profit Department Assistant –Name withheld upon request
*Not her name.