Managing a Mixed Team of Staff and Volunteers

Most sailing clubs that teach run on a blend: a few paid instructors or a paid Chief Instructor, surrounded by volunteers who drive safety boats, assist with juniors, run the galley and sit on the committee. The blend works brilliantly when it is managed with care and becomes a source of constant friction when it is not. Paid staff resent volunteers who do not follow procedures; volunteers resent being told what to do by someone half their age who is paid for it; everyone resents the unclear line about who is responsible for what. This article covers how to lead a mixed team fairly and well.

Name the roles, not the status

Friction starts when people are organised by whether they are paid rather than by what they do. On the water and on the slipway, the roles are instructor, Senior Instructor, safety boat driver, crew, shore contact, person in charge. Each has a job description, a required qualification and a place in the chain of command, and it does not matter whether the holder is paid. A volunteer Senior Instructor is in charge of a paid Dinghy Instructor on the day. A paid Chief Instructor directs a volunteer safety boat driver. Write this down and brief it.

One standard for everyone

Safety, safeguarding and operating procedures apply identically. Volunteers hold the same qualifications and first aid as staff for the same roles, do the same induction, sign the same code of conduct, undergo the same checks for work with young people, and are held to the same standards on the water. This is not bureaucracy; it is respect. Volunteers who are treated as professionals behave as professionals, and paid staff who see volunteers held to the same standard stop resenting them.

Where a volunteer is not yet qualified for a role, say so kindly and fund the course. Do not quietly let them do the job anyway.

Be clear about authority

Make explicit who is in charge of each session and each day, and that their decisions on safety and operations are final regardless of who is paid, who is older or who has been at the club longer. Back the person in charge when a volunteer with thirty years of membership disagrees with a twenty-year-old Senior Instructor's weather call. Equally, make sure the person in charge exercises that authority with courtesy and explains their reasoning; volunteers give their time freely and deserve to be treated well while following instructions.

Roster them together

A roster that shows staff and volunteers side by side, with their roles, makes the team visible as one team. It also stops the quiet assumption that volunteers can be called on at no notice because they are not paid. Volunteers have jobs and families; ask for their availability, publish the roster early and treat a volunteer's day off as seriously as a staff member's. Where you have a standby arrangement, include volunteers who want to be included and not those who do not.

Communicate the same way with everyone

Hold the morning briefing with everyone present. Share the week's plan, incidents and changes with staff and volunteers alike. Use the same channels. Nothing undermines a mixed team faster than volunteers finding out about a change second-hand or staff discovering that the committee has decided something at a meeting they were not told about.

Be careful with pay and benefits

Paid staff should be paid properly and volunteers should not drift into disguised employment. Reimburse volunteers' genuine expenses, offer modest benefits such as free membership or discounted courses, fund their training, and thank them generously. Do not give volunteers regular payments for set work; that creates employment with the obligations that go with it. Be transparent about the arrangements so that nobody feels another group is getting a better deal.

Manage friction early

Tension between staff and volunteers is normal in small doses and corrosive if left. Watch for the signs: the volunteer who ignores the Chief Instructor, the paid instructor who is dismissive of volunteer helpers, the committee member who gives instructions on the slipway. Deal with each quietly and promptly, with the person concerned, by reference to the role and the standard rather than to status. Most friction dissolves when roles are clear and the Principal is seen to be even-handed.

Develop both

Volunteers want to improve as much as staff. Include them in CPD, drills and pathway conversations. Fund their Safety Boat course or their instructor training. Give experienced volunteers mentoring roles with new staff; a retired engineer who has driven the safety boat for fifteen years has a great deal to teach a first-season instructor. Give capable younger staff the chance to lead volunteers; it is excellent development.

Recognise differently, value equally

Staff are recognised with pay, references and development. Volunteers are recognised with thanks, visibility and belonging. Make sure both happen. Name volunteers in the end-of-season address alongside staff. Mark long service. Feed everyone on the long days. Celebrate the team as one team.

Succession for both

Plan the pipeline of paid roles and volunteer roles together. Who will be Chief Instructor in three years? Who will run the safety boat team when the current lead steps back? Often the answer crosses the line: a volunteer becomes the paid Chief Instructor, a former paid instructor returns as a volunteer when their career changes. A club that sees its people as one community rather than two categories keeps more of them.

The club that gets it right

In a well-led mixed team, a visitor cannot tell who is paid. Everyone wears the same kit, follows the same procedures, attends the same briefing, is on the same roster and is thanked in the same breath. The paid staff provide continuity and professional standards; the volunteers provide depth, experience and the sense that this is a community rather than a business. Both are essential, and the Principal's job is to make sure both know it.

This article is general guidance for RYA centres and clubs. Schemes, awards and requirements change — always check the latest official RYA guidance and your recognition paperwork before acting. ActivityRoster helps you run the rostering, qualifications and safety-cover side of all of this in one place.