Covid's impact on the Volunteer Cadre

Adult Staff
1

POTENTIAL TRIGGER POST

This is an emotive post - but we should be having open and frank discussions on it. It straddles mental health - but also personal values. There aren’t right/wrong answers here - but I’m interested to hear peoples view or the subject.

Whilst the RAFAC Mindful meetings (or whatever they are called) are good - there’s a lot of unspoken stuff going on in the background which people don’t necessarily want to share with their names or squadron numbers attached. And here is, as we know, a nice, supportive cathartic environment to share things in!

So. The last two years have been so incredibly challenging for so many people across so many different levels -

  • personal health - with the impacts of covid on personal health, impacts on the NHS delaying health treatments (or inability to access treatment), overall health and wellbeing and mental health impacts,
  • family life - with lost love ones, critical illnesses and mental health, the horror of home schooling, dealing with children under your feet 24/7, isolating, queuing for toilet rolls, or simply lacking the contact with close family members during those special moments - birthdays, anniversaries - and funerals etc
  • work life - with impacts on income, furlough, unemployment underworking or overworking, changes in work patterns or styles, hybrid working, increasing challenges and dynamics, office changes (or not!), changes in jobs and careers and skills shifts
  • friends and extended network - with friends and support network all experiencing some of the changes above - and sharing those experiences with you as part of their own support network
  • volunteering - with hobbies and interests being paused, being replaced by “online” activities, an adjustment of priorities/focus, and a mixed bag of people returning as/when - many of which experiencing some of the things above, a loss of outlet for personal growth and development. In contrast, I also know some people have taken up additional hobbies/volunteering opportunities - who’ve found themselves with additional time, who enjoyed volunteering whilst on furlough and have embraced these new things with open arms.

For me, one of the biggest elements I’ve seen shift in my personal psyche, has been my tolerance levels to unnecessary BS are far, far lower than they were 2 years ago. My priorities have shifted - not entirely realigned - but shifted significantly enough that I do question things a lot more; finding myself asking “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” a lot more.

Speaking to peers inside and outside of work, they are all feeling the same. People are being more frank, open and honest (which isn’t a bad thing). I’m definitely challenging more things at work - not quite working to rule - but definitely working more focused and targeted towards the things that matter - and not the faff and peripheral nonsense.

A colleague identified that they too have seen a shift in their own personal values - they feel more ownership of “their time” than ever before; they have found the life-work balance much easier to control - including their volunteering - and have drawn down the number of activities they are doing.

I personally found for the first time in 20 years, I didn’t have anything to do 2 nights and week and most weekends. I didn’t get on with “online delivery” - it didn’t fit my skillset. But, also, we found the cadets weren’t that fussed about it either - we gave them the choice but feedback from them was “we’ve just done 6 hours infront of Zoom/Teams/Moodle - we don’t want any more”.

Over the last two years I essentially broke a habit 20 year habit. I found other things to do and occupy myself - including spending more time with my family and - when covid restrictions eased - friends. I’ve partially offset my volunteering with RAFAC with doing other things. As such, I like to maximise the time I spend with RAFAC doing purposeful activities for the benefit of cadets (rather than choking on BS and admin).

I’ve also noticed the tolerance levels among others has also changed too. I’m definitely seeing more kickback and resistance than before - in work and RAFAC; historically for RAFAC this has been tongue in cheek - but now there is definitely an higher level of resistance. An element of this may also, of course, come from people’s own personal resilience - I’ve seen people leave because on returning things have been harder than when covid struck.

On the other hand, I’ve also heard several comments from peers this week (two from the horses mouth and two I’ve filed as “duty rumours”) which suggest that the volunteers aren’t necessarily getting the support they need/deserve; the expression “you’re welcome to volunteer elsewhere” was prevalent in both cases - but from separate ends of the country.

It will be interesting to hear others experiences - how do you think the covid has impacted on you as individuals, on your squadrons or staff, on your own motivations etc. And, as RAFAC, how do we respect these impacts, how do we embrace the changes people have made, and how do we bring people back into the fold (if needed).

13 Likes
2

As volunteers in RAFAC, or as the organisation at large? Because there will be two very different answers to that.

3

I think my view of this mirrors yours. My BS tolerance has dropped to near zero; things get into the ‘screw that, it’s too hard’ box much faster than it did before. And that means that I’m much more inclined to bin something off whereas before I’d have pressed on as I didn’t want to let people down. That old response of ‘but the cadets will suffer’ doesn’t get the same response it did before - now my response is more along the lines of ‘well, tough…that’s what’s going to happen until the organisation reduces the level of BS’.

I also managed to do much more personal outdoor activity during the past years than I’ve ever done before, as the vast majority of my time has been devoted to running activities for cadets / staff. I did it with friends, squared away my Sea Kayak Leader and (mostly) all without admin orders, 5010Cs, arguments over permit 19s / drivers hours / Clarity or having to justify the expenditure of public funding. I enjoyed it and enjoyed doing outdoor stuff for the sake of it and not just to give others the experience. Selfish? Maybe - but I’ve got a CFM and clasp that says I’ve a fair few years under my belt putting others first and two years off made me realise maybe my balance was a bit out of kilter.

The Astra re-org chaos has not helped either. I enjoyed running stuff at my local unit, doing the odd range and running some evening paddling sessions / orienteering stuff etc. But the lack of impact assessment has driven me nuts - they have moved the unit into the neighbouring Wing. As a result, a number of staff won’t be transferring with the unit - for various reasons, but my personal reason is I don’t have the headspace to run governance for one DDH and then switch to delivering under another given their likely wildly varying risk appetite and requirements. Consequentially, the unit folds as there now isn’t enough staff and the new Wing cannot staff it. So I lose my connection to the cadets as there is no local unit within my region within a reasonable travel time.

How do we respect the changes and bring them back into the fold? That’s a difficult one. It needs a significant attitude change at many levels of both the volunteer and permanent cadre to understand these changes in mindset.

It’s a difficult one, having just commented on an SMS application and probably made someone else think ‘screw this, it’s too hard’ as I suggested they might want to remove duplication of serials across multiple RAs to try and demonstrate that some thought had gone into risk management rather than dumping a load of RAs on an application. Do I think it’s a reasonable request based on what the organisation expects / professional risk management? Yes. Would I blame them for saying screw it and binning the opportunity? Not one bit.

10 Likes
4

I took time off recently, and it looks like I should have stayed away.

Fire management plans employing me to do mandatory legal HS&E checks - no thanks
SOVs being banned - no thanks
ACTO 35 - no thanks
Made up local requirements for SMS applications - no thanks

I’m not sure how long I’ll last under this commandant, regional commandant and Wing Commander. No one seems to know what we exist for other than to give them a cause to pay their salary. No understanding of young people, of volunteering, of modern processes, of developing young people or the burden.

I can only surmise that someone at the top of the MOD/RAF has said it costs too much to run the RAFAC, but rather than shut us down formally let’s make it as difficult as possible for everyone and then when they all leave we can claim it was their fault and shut the squadrons.

7 Likes
5

I’m leaning more and more towards this being the Astra Goal - a much smaller, lower cost RAFAC

10 Likes
6

I get closer and closer to just walking away every day and every extra bit of admin burden from HQAC.

3 Likes
7

I’ve tried to get a few events off the ground for squadron and wing. And I’ve had a mix of WHQ blocking and senior volunteers blocking.

Ludicrous policy decisions are a drain on morale. I’ve put an event out asking for cadets and staff to sign up and one staff member said they would love to sign up, but won’t bother as they’ll be surprised if I get it approved as it is an ambitious project…

I can see how it would be so easy to slip into a reactive mindset and just complete the bare minimum, rather than trying to proactively go for opportunities for my squadron and wing.

Seeing the relentless tidal wave of BS that OC’s deal with I don’t think I could manage my wing role alongside being an OC… Which may be a requirement soon. So the wing role will be dropped.

I always feel better after a successful activity with the cadets, but find it depressing that the organisation has got to the state where it grinds its volunteers down the the point they need reinvigorating.

As many have said - with a lower tolerance since covid return and realising how precious time really is “When the fun stops, stop” is a mantra I’m hearing more and more. And nobody yet has said that dealing with the bureaucracy is fun.

I think this was likely inevitable, with new ways of working and people empowered at work to push forward change - the RAFAC is archaic in its ways of working and it loves to say all the right things but it never takes long for the mask to slip and we find out there is no real change.

7 Likes
8

I feel lucky that in CCF we are shielded from a large element of this nonsense that you lot are having to put up with. But I am concerned because the way my career is going I’m likely to be unable to do CCF in a few years and would then be looking to move to a community cadet force. As things stand I don’t think it will be ATC. I want to retain contact with cadets and with me being on track to be ordained in a non-stipendary role around the time I expect to have to move I am currently leaning towards a Chaplain role in the ACF to keep that link to cadets but minimise the impact of the rubbish that comes down from above.

4 Likes
9

I’m another with views that echo yours.

Moving Sqn/Wing/Region just before covid hit and taking over a Sqn as OC the week of lockdown was bloody hard. For over twelve months we maintained virtual parade nights, often twice a week with weekend virtual activities maybe once a month. Before moving I was an OC and held two Wing SME roles, was out of the house two nights a week, most weekends and then on my nights at home I would often be doing paperwork, so only having to do two virtual parade nights was actually easier, with no rushing home from work to choose whether to have something to eat or to put my uniform on before dashing to the Sqn. Because I’d done it for so long, it was normal, I hadn’t realised that the work/life/RAFAC balance was way out.

Pre-covid I wouldn’t have thought twice about staying up to past midnight to redo paperwork that had been bounced back for ridiculous reasons so that Cadets didn’t miss out, whereas now I find myself pushing back, questioning local rules, despairing at some of the policies we now have to work with and just putting it in the too difficult box, and if Cadets miss out, then they miss out.

I had to deal with what could only be described as a horror show at my last Sqn, it’s completely killed off the enthusiasm I once had for the organisation. I’m in the process of moving to a new Wing / Region and the offer on the table was OC of a Sqn that completely needs rebuilding from scratch. I’m really not in the right mindset to do that at the moment, I’ve done it in the past and may well do it in the future, but right now, no. Don’t get me wrong, the smile on a Cadets face when they achieve something is still worth it but I’m not prepared to sacrifice my life to the extent that I did before, for an organisation that wouldn’t even be interested in why I was leaving if I sent in my resignation.

I have been a CFAV for over half my life, I hold (&use!) qualifications that allow Cadets to do the fun stuff, AT, Fieldcraft, Ranges, I also hold the not so fun ones, like radio & cyber (sorry to radio & cyber geeks :wink: ). I was a Cadet back in the day when we all piled into the back of the OC’s van to go rock climbing, without a second thought to AT quals and risk assessments, I’ve seen the changes come in under various Commandants, but the current level of BS, paperwork and not forgetting the local rules depending on the Wing / Region you happen to be in is something else.

I have several friends who have already resigned, no-one asked them their reasons or tried to change their situation so they’d stay on and several more who are teetering on the edge and it’s not going to take much to push them over it, they’re worn down by the demands from all sides, from HQAC, Region, Wing, Parents and even Cadets. These are experienced, knowledgeable people who are walking away when actually, like me, they just need a bit of support, a change in their CFAV role, to get them back to doing fun stuff with Cadets, to reinvigorate them.

7 Likes
10

this is so true for me.

pre-pandemic i accepted it [the BS] as i was getting all the good things from the organisation at the same time - ie interaction with the Cadets.

currently i am not getting that, due to a change in personal circumstances I am not able to commit to the weekends as I once was, and my parade night evening attendance is suffering too.

I am seeing more BS than I am interaction with the Cadets and suddenly that balance is going all the way in the wrong direction.
I am not at the point of “why bother” - simply “why bother going the extra mile”

I have a few events I do each year as Event IC, they are not “big ticket items” and only on a Squadron level, but I have enjoyed them and have proven to be popular. I am sure the Cadet interest will remain the same but if my interest remains the same to complete the extra BS sorry Admin to simple move X number of Cadets to an activity in line with the aims of the ATC then perhaps that will be the decision made for me…

3 Likes
11

I for one have taken stock of my life since Covid, I’ve gotten used to having my one weekend in three off for me and my partner, she’s gotten used to me not going to Cadets twice per week. As such what I’m willing and able to commit has gone down from 2 years ago.

If you them add a huge and increasing admin burden to that you move me closer and closer to “why do I bother”.

My number 1 thing that I do in this organisation is run DofE and I’ve had plenty of offers to go and do that for Schools etc for real money with far less hassle.

I’m committed to a number of events this year, but once those are done I will very seriously be considering if I am going to carry on or if I will examine other volunteering opportunities. (There is always the probability that a couple of good events will remind me why I put up with all the crap.)

6 Likes
12

Likewise I have scaled back post Covid. I was volunteering in more than one place, I opted to keep the Cadet role.

RAFAC won out because the activities are more interesting, but it was close.

5 Likes
13

I was an OC pre-pandemic, was in post for about a year, then went NEP due to family circumstances. By the time the first 6 months was done, the original circumstances that led me to NEP were largely resolved but work pressures increased significantly so I decided to take the second 6 months too.

While I was deciding what to do, I made up a pros and cons list and it was very one sided. The few pros related to the achievements of the cadets and wider squadron and knowing the role I played in it, but at the same time, I struggled to find anything much I could point to which I personally enjoyed after taking command; the limited time I had between family and work didn’t spread far enough to manage both the admin burden/BS triage and do the things I liked doing. One of the overwhelming reasons that kept me doing the job was the lack of anyone else when the last OC had to step down, but when I did have to step back, they found someone and the wheels didn’t fall off, so that made the decision to quit easier in the end.

If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I think I would have returned from NEP, even in a reduced capacity. However, the pandemic gave me the luxury of seeing much more of my own kids and gave me a different perspective on what’s important to me. I don’t want to have to compromise that In order to spend time just tolerating things rather than having a rewarding volunteer experience. It feels a bit of a selfish position but I think you need to be motivated to be a good volunteer and at the moment, for me, the demotivating factors outweigh the motivating ones, and the pandemic helped me realise that.

10 Likes
14

The only reason I’m still in the organisation is because of the cadets and the end product I produce.

My tolerance of nonsense has also dwindled, but it’s not just a tolerance decrease - there has been a definite increase in the volume and conceitedness of the nonsense itself.

Following trying to keep the squadron alive and cadets engaged throughout our shutdown, we have dealt with:

Return to F2F prep
Managing a plethora of restrictions
Regional and National events not following the guidelines we were busting ourselves trying to not fall foul of
RC needlessly blocking activities
Updating all RAs to a new form
RC and WingCo adding their own requirements to event applications
The ongoing dirth of flying opportunities
L144s still not in armouries
Additional mandatory training and kit requirements for shooting first aid
Changes to 1st Class syllabus but not able to get the books
CAC more fussed about rowing than flying
Death of hope via ACTO35
FSMS
Latest SOV BS
Multiple inspections by various people

And that’s just what comes to mind from the last 12 months.

Prior to that - death of gliding and flying as we knew it, fieldcraft switching across multiple different sets of CFAV training requirements and apparently doing so again, the “Volunteer Agreement”, the farce that was “admin burden reduction”…

That’s not including mismanagement and poor leadership within CFAV SLTs and WHQs which seems to have been gradually getting worse across the country. The wrong people have been promoted because the face was right. The faces were a combination of masquerade and ulterior motives, and the wrong things were valued by those doing the promoting.

None of the above is exhaustive. The organisation is going further and further down a dark path, and the end product - the thing keeping me here - is becoming more and more difficult to deliver, and less worth the effort.

I am, however, more likely to be booted than leave, because if I’m going then I’m swinging as I get dragged to the door. And I won’t miss it.

Under the current climate, every CFAV who leaves or has left this organisation will gain so much and lose only stress, and the organisation loses far more.

The ATC represents 17 years of my life. Until a few years ago, never did I think I would be better off without it yet that is the ever-growing feeling. But I’m not here for me, so I’ve been fighting it… I’m starting to lose that fight.

15 Likes
15

I mirror a lot said here. I took up OC (my second OC gig) back in July to get a squadron out of lockdown and have never had so little support or seen so much being demanded. I’ve yet to see my Sector commander - it took me four weeks to even get him to reply to an email about trying to get a new volunteer through a board. That new starter has had a really crap intro to the organisation - the new application process is such a mish-mash of procedures it is far harder than the old way of just getting them into one place and doing every form in one go.

It took my Wing over 5 months to do the paperwork to get me even assigned to my squadron. I have had a SNCO return and it took them 4 months to assign him from the time the Regional Commander approved his direct return to previous rank. Promotion for me to Flt Lt (remember, this is my 2nd OC gig) - not a hope. I don’t even have a No.1 uniform after nearly 5 years as the initial issue was screwed up and I’ve never found anyone to take responsibility.

I have been told not to even bother asking for uniform at the moment for my cadets as we just won’t get it. I have less than 30% in full uniform right now. Flying is starting up at last, but I recently got an invite to send cadets to some blue ATP ground school and it came with a load of documentation that was dated December 2018, so horrendously out of date. When I questioned it, the reply I got back didn’t even make any sense.

Shooting is non-existent - AFAIK every person who has a shooting qual on the Wing is now out of currency. I looked to see if I could get onto an Air Rifle RCO course. There is one available to my Wing. In January 2023. The summer camp this year has 32 cadet spaces. For the whole Wing. Parents are quite rightly starting to complain about “nothing happening”.

I tried to volunteer to do STEM stuff over lockdown. I was ignored. I tried to volunteer for a related deputy wing position recently. I didn’t even get the courtesy of a reply. I’m just not one of the clique.

And now we have to sack off the plans for our SOV to get back on the road. Plus the new fire stuff will just go onto my “I have no time” pile. I suspect the way I will eventually leave is someone will “reprimand” me for not doing something like that and I will just go “meh, fine, I just don’t care”. I suspect that is not long away.

Covid has just put all of this into sharp relief. It’s been a downhill road for me almost since I went to OASC.

7 Likes
16

The leadership MO is increasingly do little, point blame for failure, and take the credit for success.

I know a few not bothering to renew. The same happened with fieldcraft.

3 Likes
17

I’ve found the return to 2 weekly parade nights hard.

Pre-pandemic, parade nights were the highlight of my week, so after about a year of weekly virtual parades, I was keen to get back to it. Or so I thought. Almost every parade night I now find myself feeling uneasy because:

  • the training I’m delivering won’t be to the standard I want it to be as I’ve not had enough time to prep
  • the training other staff are delivering won’t be to the standard I want it to be as I’ve not had enough time to help them develop, and they’ve not had enough time to prep
  • the reopening paperwork has highlighted all of the paperwork we should be doing, but aren’t because we don’t have enough time

I hold myself to a fairly high standard (as I expect many of us in the organisation do) - not being able to deliver to that standard upsets me.

So I look upwards for support. My OC is burnt-out. I’ve seen our WSO once since December (I guess from posts above I should count myself lucky), and there’s no help coming from there. OC Wing is a great figurehead, but that doesn’t help fix any of the above.

I look sideways for support instead. Our neighbouring squadrons are both running on 2-3 staff, and they’re also running out of energy. We can give each other a bit of moral support, but not much else.

We have had a new staff member try to join the squadron. It’s been three months - the volunteer is keen but the organisation hasn’t managed to get them through the process yet.

CFAV I’ve known since I joined are leaving. The work they had been doing now needs to be done by someone else, increasing their workload. It’s a doom spiral.

Thankfully, our RC seems to be positively risk-averse in comparison to what I’ve seen described elsewhere on here. I’ve managed to organise and support “high risk to life” activities pretty much every other weekend this year, and that’s what’s been keeping me going.

Me too. Particularly when, having put in the effort to get activities running, I’m then finding I’m not getting the cadet numbers I’d expect at an activity.

I want to enjoy delivering cadet activities, both parade nights and at weekends. At the moment, the only thing keeping me doing them is the thought of the void that would appear in my life without being part of the RAFAC.

@HQAC - consider this thread a cry for help. We need support from the top-down for volunteer staff, and we need to make it more appealing and easier for new volunteers to join.

Challenge every permanent staff member to find one thing they can do to make volunteers’ lives easier. If that’s too easy, find five. Then keep going. Really focus around the experience of the staff (both perm and volunteer), and we’ve got a chance to save the organisation.

8 Likes
18

This.

Meanwhile the bs out of that cottage at Cranwell has increased exponentially.

HQAC, we know you read this.

  1. There has been no bonfire if admin.
  2. Our available activities have realistically been slashed.
  3. Staff morale is at an all time low.
  4. More mandatory training modules with my hobby than as a high level technical professional in a risk intensive industry.
  5. Rotting buildings.
  6. Ineffective perms bed blocking before retirement.
  7. Utter derge of so called senior leaders. Absolutely zero leadership on display.

If you truly knew what we think and say on unit about you lot, even you with the empathy and soft skills of a toaster would ‘get it’.

Corps is bust.
No amount of fakery on social media will fix it.

6 Likes
19

Yep.
All trash.

Given to us by the worst examples of leadership I have ever seen.

1 Like
20

Unmitigated ommishmables of a cluster fudge.

1 Like