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How to Deal with a Bad Volunteer: Challenges and Solutions

How do we deal with an employee or volunteer who is not performing their assigned tasks or is presenting a negative or toxic attitude toward others and their job?

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Updated:

January 14, 2025

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How do we deal with an employee or volunteer who is not performing their assigned tasks or is presenting a negative or toxic attitude toward others and their job? This is a question we often get from volunteer leaders and managers. In volunteer-utilizing organizations, it is often complicated to address and rectify the situation, as it can be difficult to sever ties with a volunteer, especially when 66% of volunteers have decreased the amount of time they volunteer or stopped entirely during COVID-19 (Fidelity Charitable, 2020). In this situation, removing or firing an underperforming or negative volunteer can become more difficult.

This article will provide strategies to help manage and ultimately retain a problematic volunteer, as well as tips on how to sever a volunteer relationship that is beyond repair.

Why Do Employees or Volunteers Become Problematic?

As organizational leaders, it is important to identify possible factors that can cause negative or problematic behaviors in our employees or volunteers. According to Mark Tarallo, a senior editor at Security Management Magazine, there are four main reasons that an employee may become problematic for an organization.

Lack of or inadequate communication and feedback from supervisors
Negative supervisor attitude and approach to management or leadership
Lack of employee engagement with the assigned task or job
Poor personality traits (ex. negativity, egotism, petulance)

How Do We Manage Problem Employees?

Effective organizational management may not be enough to prevent problematic employees/volunteers from developing in your organization. However, in many situations, we can utilize specific managerial strategies to correct problem behaviors and avoid having to let go of or firing a problematic volunteer. Through the following strategies adapted from several resources (Gallo, 2016; Kendrick, n.d.; Miller, 2007; Tarallo, 2020) we can specifically address the four most common causes of problematic employees or volunteers mentioned earlier.

Lack of or inadequate communication and feedback from supervisors

Proactively check in on your employee or volunteer to address potential issues early
Give frequent and direct feedback to employees and volunteers on their performance
Document the interactions you have with employees and volunteers to keep track of what has been discussed

Negative supervisor attitude and approach to management or leadership

Be aware of your body language when interacting with employees or volunteers, including your facial expressions
Be open to feedback and criticism from employees and volunteers
Provide constructive criticism in a motivational and supportive way; emphasize the good things your employee is doing along with the bad.
Separate personal feelings from professional interactions with employees and volunteers

Lack of employee engagement with the assigned task or job

Get to know your employees' or volunteers' strengths and weaknesses to ensure you are assigning appropriate tasks
Reassign or reorganize organizational tasks to provide employees or volunteers with new responsibilities and challenges based on their knowledge and skills
Allow and encourage employees or volunteers to take some time away from the task or the job when it seems they are struggling to stay engaged

Poor Personality Traits (ex. negativity, egotism, petulance)

Recognize and privately inform the employee or volunteer of their poor performance or negative attitude or actions because they may not be aware of them themselves
Make sure that you as a manager/leader are sensitive to employee or volunteer personal situations and take that into account when addressing behavior
Encourage employees/volunteers to consider the consequences of their actions in terms of the negative effects on others and the organization
Make employees and volunteers aware of all potential resources that are available to them (ex. counseling)

How Do We Cut Ties with a Volunteer?

Despite utilizing the strategies to manage and address problem employee or volunteer behaviors, there are situations where the best thing for the organization is to let go of or terminate the relationship with the employee/volunteer. This is a difficult decision to make, and once made, it is a difficult thing to do as a manager or leader, especially when dealing with volunteers. However, there are steps we can take as managers and leaders to ensure that we are respectful and professional in this difficult situation. The following are adapted from Branson & Long, (1992) and Fox & Sheeran, (2009).

Make sure you document everything, including formal warnings, probation notices, inappropriate actions, examples of misconduct, etc.
Meet face-to-face with the volunteer if possible and preferably as a group rather than one-on-one. In the meeting, clearly outline the reasons for their termination based on your organizational policy.
During the meeting do not try to argue or debate the volunteer, remain committed to your stance, and remember that silence in this case is perfectly fine.
Provide a formal letter of termination, especially if the volunteer must return organizational property or take specific actions following termination.
If the termination is due to circumstances associated with poor fit or match, try to provide the volunteer with other opportunities that may better suit their skills.