We are sorry to inform you that due to the Corona Pandemic we will not be having our in-person meeting at Boalsburg FD on July 17 and 18.

We will, however be holding a virtual meeting on Saturday morning, July 18 via Zoom.

More details will be provided when the meeting is established and connection information is available.

Sorry about this but we must “practice what we preach” regarding person…

Developing a Recruitment and Retention Plan

 

With each of the subsequent recruiting and retention “tips” you will have the opportunity to consider how, if at all, that technique can help your organization. The tips should help you develop a comprehensive recruitment and retention action plan for your organization.

This tip is intended to provide you a format to develop an action plan to consider what various resources or techniques can be of help to accomplish your goal, how you would want to access those resources, to whom you should assign the tasks, and how to determine effectiveness of the effort.

RECRUITMENT

Activity	Timing	Resource, Location, Cost, and Funding Source	Responsibility	Status

 

RETENTION

Activity	Timing	Resource, Location, Cost, and Funding Source	Responsibility	Status

 

The development of such a plan assists in keeping the organization on target to perform tasks, take necessary actions, obtain necessary resources, etc. Without a plan, many times efforts become disjointed and ineffective.

Critical to the success of any such plan is a recruitment and retention coordinator. This person must

have the interest, skills, knowledge, and desire to establish the program tasks and goals and implement,

then monitor the efforts. If there is no coordinator, there is no program and the coordinator should not

be a person who has extensive responsibilities in the organization, e.g. Chief, President or Chairman.

This will be extensively discussed in a future tip.

President Ron Hereda has asked the opinion of Officers and members concerning a meeting in July and the Conference in October

Please contact President Hereda at 724 337 3308 and let him know what you think as to whether these events should take place.

 

Thank you for your input and assistance.

Recruitment and Retention

Tip of the Month

#2 of 50

Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

in the 21st Century…continued

As part of a FEMA/USFA project. the Public Safety and Environmental Protection Institute of Philadelphia based St. Joseph’s University, in collaboration with the NVFC conducted research to better define the reasons fewer people volunteer their time to organizations such as volunteer emergency service agencies. If your members are leaving, it may be for the same reasons the research pointed out… – a lack of time? – poor leadership? – health and medical problems? – family responsibility? – volunteering no longer being relevant to the member? – relocation? – other interests? – competing demands (work, family, school, sports, etc.)? – a problematic organization? – the fact that no one asked them to stay. To know for sure, you may have to poll members who have left your organization.

What makes people stay involved is a separate issue. Much of the ability to retain people centers on motivating members through a shared VISION. Research has found that this is facilitated effectively in many cases when an organization can: – accommodate individual needs – provide rewards and recognition – provide adequate supervision and leadership – challenge members. Retention issues are not only individual, they can be by group, and may be local issues. While volunteer emergency responders typically join to help others, over time new factors enter into why they stay. In fact, today, benefits play a significant role in why and how long members stay. Research from St. Joseph’s University found numerous types of retention programs that worked; however, what worked in one community did not necessarily work in a neighboring community, reinforcing that recruitment and retention are local issues. Again, you will need to poll local personnel to determine reasons members no longer volunteer.

The critical success factor is someone locally taking responsibility and authority to work recruitment and retention issues to sustain needed staffing.

Credit: Jenaway, William F., Ph.D., Recruitment and Retention for 21st Century Emergency Services. VFIS News, Volume 7 Number 2 pages 1-2

Need help for your Recruitment & Retention program. The FASP (through a SAFER Grant) provides consultative services to help you with recruiting and retaining members. For help, look for a contact us through the FASP website http://pafirefighters.org/contact-us/ with your email and needs.

Additional information on this topic can be found at: www.becomeapafirefighter.com

www.responderhelp.com; www.nvfc.org or call 1-800-ASK-NVFC (275-6832).

 

Due to the restrictions for public gatherings by the Pennsylvania Governor, CDC, and Federal government concerning the CoVid-19 virus the April meeting has been cancelled.

As further information develops we will do our best to update the membership.