Volunteer Tenure?

[Basementdweller]

So 20 months is the length of service for a volunteer....

 

 

Well my experience is much different than that.

 

 

I can see reasons for it being shorter.

 

 

Job changes

Divorces

Boys losing interest

Sports

Cost

Impossible maze of sometimes contradictory rules, permits and plans

Training

Snubbed at roundtable

Good old boys club

 

 

Well, I am lucky I guess, I have a core group of volunteer parents and within the last year added 8 more active parents....My shortest time volunteer is 7 month the tiger leader.....The others will be a year in the next couple of months...

 

Our troop are all long time volunteer and I am the shortest term with 7 years of adult scouting. the longest is 50 years.....

 

So is retention of volunteers something that needs worked on????

Can it be fixed or is it just a personality problem.

 

[OldGreyEagle]

I think its a local thing. I did not recharter with the troop my son was in this year. He is going to be 27 in June. I think 15 years is long enough. Then again, the Committee Chair is on her 25th year I think and the scoutmaster 10 years as scoutmaster, 6 years previous as ASM. One of the ASM who is the COuncil NYLT Scoutmaster has been in over 10 years is going strong. We like working with each other

 

It comes down to working with people you enjoy working with. I know the District People and like them, heck I guess you could say I am a Disitrct Person, There are a few blow hards but they tend to get worked around. Program is kept front and center and drives the District.

 

I think we have often said, People vote with their feet, either scouts or scouters and people rarely walk away from a good time.

 

So, if the nucleus of adults is having a good time, then it works and thrives. I would hate to work in the enviroment that BD describes. I am certain I would not have lasted this long in that sad state of affairs

[packsaddle]

I'm with OGE on this. It's a market for volunteers out there. And every single one of us has our own unique reasons for making the decisions we make as to whether to continue or not. I can set aside my feelings about 'policy' in order to assist with the youth for as long as they want me to...or not. My choice and theirs...as it should be.

[5yearscouter]

Something to keep in mind regarding average tenure in BSA,

is that a huge number of units are chartered to the LDS church. Their volunteers are called to service by the Bishop to give about a year to scouting. That means their average tenure will be much lower than traditional units who may keep people for many years. I just realized I went to my pack's blue and gold for the 8th year in a row this year, each of those years in a main leadership position. Unfortunately many of our pack leaders have been in it for a year or two only. One den leader is on his 2nd round of kids thru the program.

 

 

we have leaders in the troop that have been around for 10-15 years, not many old timers still in the troop, most have moved up to district positions.

[beardad]

I mentioned this is another thread I think. we usually manage about 1 to 1.5 years.

 

we have a culture in our pack and in our troop that only parents are volunteers, so we don't have any long time scouters. once the boys move on so do the parents.

[Oak Tree]

I'll also point out that this statistic can be a bit misleading. The average tenure of a volunteer counting all volunteers in the history of an organization is not the same thing as the average tenure of a volunteer at some particular point in time.

 

For example, if an organization lasted 10 years, and had one volunteer who served all ten, two volunteers who did consecutive 5 year terms, five volunteers who did consecutive two-year terms, and ten volunteers who did consecutive one-year terms, you can see the difference. The average (mean) of all 18 volunteers is 2 years 3 months. The median is 1 year. At any point in time, though, there are four volunteers serving, who serve for 1, 2, 5, and 10 years - the average of those four numbers is 4.5 years.

 

This also gets complicated by the fact that on average, a volunteer is only half-way through his tenure - so if an organization averaged 20 months tenure, you'd average catching any particular volunteer at 10 months. But at any point in time, given the way the distribution tends to look, you'd find the organization would have a higher average than that at virtually every point in time.

 

So is 20 months too short? Probably not. Would longer be better? Yes. Do everything you can to make sure the adults have fun too.

[frank10]

I've always counted me time in years, but now instead of telling folks I have over 27 years I'll tell them I have done the work of 16 volunteers!