10 Disadvantages of volunteer works
1)
Exploitation of the goodwill of the volunteers
Many employers exploit the goodwill
of the volunteers. “Work is done and the money is saved” become the slogan of
the employers and the companies. The money that is supposed to be used for the
well-being of the people is accumulated into the fund of the organizations and
its owners. For example, volunteers in the hospitals or in the municipalities.
All those works that are done by the volunteers are supposed to be done by paid
workers. If volunteers don’t do it, they
are forced to pay someone to do that work.
But at this moment more and more
volunteer work is being promoted not because it has any special value adding to
the organizations but rather that saved money can be used to add to the
increment of the salary of the paid workers, especially the top directors of
the organizations. Just imagine if
someone proposes that each time a new volunteer is added to an organization the
salary of the paid workers decreases and that money will be used for the
development of the society. I don’t believe even remotely such a proposal will
be accepted by the paid workers of any organization. And there you can see the real motif behind
the promotion of the volunteer work!
Work is done, workers go empty handed
and the fund is safe is the basic idea behind the volunteer work. I am not against volunteer work. If a new
project is starting up with no financial support and needed a lot of human
power, of course, it is good to support and help that organization. That
volunteer work has a value and has the right purpose and motif. But in many cases what we experience in our
day to day life is just the contrary. Well established organizations still make
an option for volunteer jobs. I would support for volunteer work if the paid
workers receive a little less salary and that sum is used to pay to the
volunteers. That is not a general possibility. And it is not going to happen in
the near future. And paid workers wouldn’t want to take that risk.
There are organizations with buckets
full of money and have no idea what to do with it and they still promote
volunteers to work for them. They always have the fear that the fund will be
over in a short period of time if they start paying for all the work. But they also forget how they accumulated all
these wealth! It is all from the exploitation which is labeled as profit. Or
the exploitation of the goodwill of the free work offered by the people over a
period of time.
By creating or promoting more and
more volunteer works, the real earning job opportunities in the society are
being diminished or killed. Many people really wanted to do something to earn
something for their livelihood, but unfortunately all those small jobs are done
by the volunteers forcibly or by fate.
Except a few highly skilled professional jobs, all the other works can
be done by any person with a bit of training. But unfortunately, all those
works are being done one way or other by manipulatively created volunteer
workers. Who benefits from this, just the organization? Yes, of course.
3)
Volunteer workers becomes the slaves of the
organization
We hear from people who were doing
volunteer works for years for certain organizations and finally treated like slaves
and stop their volunteer work and be sad. And in the long run volunteers are
sometimes destined to be part of that organization for nothing other than
creating extra profit for the organization which were supposed to be used for
the purpose of completing those tasks.
This will create a jobless generation and more and more depressed and
disoriented people. Volunteer workers are looked down by the organizations and
paid workers. They are even considered as “jobless people” doing something to
fill up their boredom of life.
4)
Dehumanization of quality persons
Another disadvantage of the volunteer
works is that the person who does the volunteer work will be dehumanized. There
are cases where very highly professional and qualified persons destined to be a
volunteer worker in certain circumstances. And the society looks at the person
who does volunteer works as someone below standard. No one will look at the
background of the person who does the volunteer work. The person might have had
a very high profile job in the past or very wealthy and reputed person. But in
unfortunate circumstances he ended up in volunteer work. And thus, a once
quality person is dehumanized into a worthless volunteer worker.
5)
Unethical distribution of the salary
To receive a remuneration for the job
done is the right of every individual. Whether the person sitting in the office
or outside in the field has that same right. But the modern society created all
white colour jobs as something high and should be paid high and all other
manual jobs as something low and should be paid less. But most of the time the
low paid jobs are real hard works. Others are just intellectual gymnastics.
They are just paid for their smartness and not for the energy and time they
spent. If there is a system that distributes the wage according to the spending
of one’s energy and strength, most the people sitting in the offices may not
earn much. In the normal earning jobs this is the situation. Then you can
imagine how unethical the way volunteer workers are treated.
6)
The earning rich people become richer and the jobless
poor continue to be poor
The money makers are already in the
track of earning more and more and they become richer and richer if nothing
goes wrong. And the poor and jobless people are placed in a situation of
autopiloting where they earn very limited and they are forced to spent it to
the maximum and continue to live in the same destiny. They are in the set mode.
They can’t make any changes, because it will cause accidents. This is in
reality an inevitable situation. This cannot be undone. Because the rich
wouldn’t want to take up the responsibility of piloting and want to enjoy the
flight and rest. And the poor has no access to change its autopiloting mode
other than comply with its rule and follow the direction.
7)
Disparity between the rich and the poor increases
gradually in the society
If this is continued for a long term
we will face an explosion of jobless people in the society with an increase in
the number of volunteers who wish to do something than lazing at home. As a
result, more and more is done for free and the organizations get richer and the
volunteer workers will run out of their finance and end up in poverty because
they spent their earning time for free service. No young people should be
encouraged for doing volunteer works unless and otherwise they are financially
stable and need no money for their life. All billionaires and millionaires are
encouraged to do volunteer works, because they don’t need any extra income for
their normal life.
8)
Big companies earn more through unjust ways
When there is a possibility of
acquiring volunteer workers by the companies, all the job searching people for
a living is out from the question. Because which employer would hire a paid
worker if they can manage to get that work done by a volunteer who is willing
to do that work in a desperate situation. Or employers conveniently convince
the people that it is wonderful to do some volunteer works without receiving
any payment. This is ethically unjust.
There are hundreds of people who are wanting to do some jobs to make a
living. But in a profit oriented society
the rich will have always the upper hand and the power to manipulate and
exploit the situation to make more profit.
9)
The commitment of the volunteers diminishes in the
long term
Although, some companies or
organizations or institutions promote volunteers with right motif and the
volunteers start to work with them with a right motif. But in the course of
time they become the slave workers of that organization or institution. The
salaried workers will have always an upper hand on everything and they will
always look down the volunteer workers as someone nothing other than just work
machines who accomplishes the tasks entrusted without being paid. This will
create lack of commitment in the volunteer work but at the same volunteers will
be forced to continue in that position since they have started to do it for a
good cause or being convinced it as something great by the authorities.
Volunteer work can be appreciated if
only someone besides having a paid job someone decides to support an
organization which is short of funding to pay for all their necessary works or
short of personnel.
10)
The increase of
more unhappy people in the society
The happiness of the people depends
on the freedom and the access they have in the society and in their life. Many
of the volunteer workers are destined to be in that position. It may not be
always from their goodwill. Or they are the people who want to do something
good for the society. But when the opportunities are not coming on their way
they just choose to do anything that comes on their way. It may make them happy at the moment when
they take it. That is just because they
can do something other than sitting at home doing nothing. But in the long run
they realize, that was not what they wanted, and that is not what make them
happy. So gradually unhappiness will creep into their lives. And when more and
more people pushed into this state, the society will be filled with a huge
number of unhappy people which in turn create a society which is just
mechanical and not lively.
So it is high time to rethink about
engaging more people into volunteer works!!!
Joemon Thekkaekurikattukunnal
