Managing Burnout Among Rural Volunteers in Australia

This article investigates how volunteers in rural Australia are managing their volunteer portfolios to avoid burnout. Rural areas are heavily dependent on volunteers to deliver essential services and create vibrant, livable communities. Rural volunteers often undertake multiple volunteering roles to support their communities, meaning they may be at greater risk of burnout. Our article uses in-depth interviews with volunteers from three case study towns to examine how they manage their volunteer portfolios to avoid burnout. Findings indicated that feelings of burnout among volunteers were common, due to the high workload and time demands on them. This issue was accentuated by inadequate volunteer supply, increased bureaucracy, and a lack of funding for organizations. Approaches volunteers used to counterbalance burnout included reduction and/or distribution of their volunteer workload, withdrawal of services, refusal of additional volunteer duties, and leisure activities to balance their volunteering commitments. The research and practical implications of these findings are discussed.