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Add and manage volunteers

Updated

Available for the following plans: Lite, Plus, Unlimited, HR Essentials, HR Engage, HR Elite, Unlimited HR+Payroll
Available for the following HR classic plans: Standard, Premium, Platinum
Available for the following user access levels: Admin

Volunteer is now a recognised worker type in Employment Hero, sitting alongside employees and contractors in your People List. Volunteer profiles are permanently excluded from payroll — pay details, bank accounts, tax settings, pension, and payslips cannot be added to a volunteer profile.

Warning

If your organisation has previously added volunteers as zero-salary employees, those records will need to be manually migrated to the new volunteer worker type. See the Further information section of this article for steps on how to do this.

Daily activities

Quick Add a volunteer

Helpful Hint

Quick Add creates a volunteer record with the minimum required fields. The volunteer will receive an invitation to complete their profile. Pay, bank, and tax fields are excluded from the form.

  1. Click the People menu.
  2. Click the People List submenu.
  3. Click the + Add Worker button, then select Onboard.
    Onboard volunteer.jpg

  4. In the Add a worker modal, select the Volunteer tile.
    Volunteer tile.jpg

    Helpful Hint

    Not sure which worker type applies? Select Not sure which type applies? to answer a few quick questions and receive a recommendation.

  5. Select Quick Add.
  6. Complete the following fields:
    • First name
    • Last name
    • Date of birth
    • Email
    • Location
  7. Click the Save button.

After saving, the volunteer will receive an invitation to join the platform and complete their profile.

Onboard a volunteer

Helpful Hint

To issue a volunteer agreement during onboarding, you will need a volunteer document template set up in advance. Employment contracts cannot be issued to volunteers. For details on setting up document templates, refer to this article.

  1. Click the People menu.
  2. Click the People List submenu.
  3. Click the + Add Worker button, then select Onboard.
    Onboard volunteer.jpg
  4. In the Add a worker modal, select the Volunteer tile.
    Volunteer tile.jpg
  5. Select Start onboarding.
  6. Complete the following fields:
    • First name
    • Last name
    • Start date
    • Job title
    • Group (optional)
    • Primary manager (optional)
    • Work location (optional)
  7. Click the Continue button.
  8. If your organisation has a volunteer agreement set up, click Issue agreement and select the relevant document. Otherwise, click Finish to complete the onboarding. You can issue documents from the volunteer's profile at any time.
Customise what volunteers can see in the Work app

Use the Menu Customisation feature to control which items are visible to volunteers in the Employment Hero Work app. A dedicated Volunteers column sits alongside Employees and Contractors.

  1. Click the Settings menu.
  2. Click Menu Customisation.
  3. View the Volunteers column.
  4. Toggle the menu items you want to show or hide for volunteers.
  5. Click Save.

The volunteer profile

What admins can manage on a volunteer profile

The volunteer profile uses the same modern layout as employee and contractor profiles. Admins can view and manage:

  • Personal details
  • Emergency contacts
  • HR documents and agreements
  • Compliance information
  • Certifications
  • Group and manager assignments
  • Work location

Note

The Certifications, Policies, and Assets tabs only appear on a volunteer profile when their corresponding items are ticked on the Menu Customisation page for Volunteers. If an item is not ticked there, its tab stays hidden on the profile even when certifications, policies, or assets have already been assigned to the volunteer.

On the Employment Hero Work app, volunteers can access Documents, Certifications, Policies, Learning, and Announcements.

What is not available on a volunteer profile

The following are permanently excluded from all volunteer profiles and cannot be enabled:

  • Pay details
  • Bank accounts
  • Tax settings
  • Pension
  • Payslips
  • Leave
  • Timesheets
Volunteers in the People List

Volunteers appear alongside employees and contractors in the People List. Each row shows a Worker Type column for at-a-glance identification. To filter the list to volunteers only, click Filters, select Worker Type, then select Volunteer.

The workforce header at the top of the list shows a real-time headcount breakdown by worker type and updates as you apply filters.

Helpful Hint

The workforce header is available on HR Elite and Unlimited HR+Payroll plans only.

Volunteers in the organisation chart

Volunteers with a primary manager assigned will appear in the organisation chart under that manager, alongside employees and contractors. Each card displays the worker type. To assign or update a primary manager, edit the volunteer's profile directly.

Print and export from the org chart include all worker types with full name and role details.

Which reports include volunteers?

Volunteers are included in the following reports:

  • Headcount Report
  • Workforce Snapshot Report
  • Tenure Report
  • Termination Report
  • Turnover Report
  • HR Documents Report
  • Work Eligibility Report
  • Audit Trail
  • Lateness Report
  • Sickness Report
  • Policies Report
  • Induction Content Report
  • Certification Report

Helpful Hint

Volunteers are not yet included in the Assigned Learning Report or the Roster vs Timesheet Report. These will be added in a future update.

Further information

Can a volunteer be added to a pay run?

No. The volunteer worker type has its payroll pathway completely blocked at the system level. It is architecturally impossible for a volunteer to be pulled into a pay run, regardless of any organisation-level settings. This removes the payroll noise and errors caused by the old zero-salary employee workaround.

We previously added volunteers as zero-salary employees. How do we migrate them?

Existing zero-salary employee records are not automatically converted to the volunteer worker type. Employment Hero cannot legally determine whether a zero-salary record represents a genuine volunteer or an employee on unpaid leave, so admins must make that determination and migrate records manually. To do this:

  1. Note any documents, certifications, or policies assigned to the existing employee record that will need to be reissued.
  2. Terminate the existing employee record using the standard offboarding flow. For further details, refer to Offboard and terminate an employee.
  3. Create a new volunteer record for the same person using the Add Worker flow described in this article.
  4. Reissue any relevant documents to the new volunteer profile.
Can volunteers log hours or submit expense claims?

Not yet. Timesheets and expense reimbursements for volunteers are both scoped for future releases and are not currently available in Employment Hero.

Can a volunteer be converted to an employee later?

No. Worker types cannot be converted directly. If a volunteer's circumstances change and they need to become an employee, you will need to conclude the volunteer record and create a new employee record for that person.

Do volunteers receive a self-service login or access to the Work app?

Yes. Volunteers receive an invitation to join the platform and complete their own profile, and they have self-service access to the Employment Hero Work app, where they can access Documents, Certifications, Policies, Learning, and Announcements. As volunteers are not linked to payroll, payroll-related areas of the Work app (such as payslips, leave, and timesheets) are not available to them.

Can a volunteer be assigned as a manager?

Yes. Volunteers appear in the manager selection list alongside employees and contractors when setting up reporting relationships. Once assigned, a volunteer manager receives approval requests and appears correctly in the organisation chart.

Can I issue an employment contract to a volunteer?

No. Employment contracts cannot be issued to volunteers. If your organisation uses a volunteer agreement, this can be issued as an HR document during or after the onboarding flow, provided you have a volunteer agreement document template set up. For details, refer to Issue HR documents to employees.

Will we be able to add and update volunteers in bulk?

Bulk add and update functionality for volunteers is not currently available. The product team is actively exploring this for a future release.

Will adding volunteers change what we are billed?

Volunteers count toward your organisation's overall platform headcount and are billed at your existing contracted per-user rate, the same as employees and contractors. There is no change to your pricing simply by enabling or using the volunteer worker type.

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