Age UK: Balancing human interaction and digital tools in volunteering

Volunteers are the beating heart of Age UK’s retail shops. But recruiting and retaining them can be hard, and takes time. Digital tools could enhance recruitment, but only if they reflect the real-world pressures, preferences and constraints of those doing the work.

Age UK asked Healthia to lead a discovery into its volunteer recruitment journey. The goal: understand the needs of staff, what’s working, where the challenges are, and how digital can support more effective, efficient recruitment without losing the human touch that makes volunteering meaningful.

What we did

We focused on Age UK’s Volunteering Hub, a national digital platform launched to manage volunteer applications, alongside the established in-person recruitment methods. Shop managers described the importance of human connection. Personal connections through chalkboards, chats and cups of tea remain central to their recruitment approach. So increasing online applications is about bringing digital into the human interaction to complement it, rather than replacing it.

We explored:

• Current recruitment process and context – how retail shops recruit volunteers, the systems they use, and any environmental constraints.
• People’s needs and readiness – staff and volunteer needs, shop managers’ appetite for using the Volunteering Hub more, and any barriers to adoption.
• Digital access and confidence – technical skills, confidence, and access needs for both shop managers and volunteers.

People first

We took time to understand the full picture of volunteer recruitment before considering how digital tools might fit in.

• Understand the current retail volunteer recruitment picture for Age UK
• Map as-is journeys across multiple interactions, from the shop floor to backstage operations
• Define design principles to harmonise digital and in-person processes
• Co-create to-be service concepts that retain warmth while improving efficiency
• Propose a staged roadmap for change, from quick wins to future-state systems

Outcomes

The work is shaping Age UK's approach to blending digital innovation with the personal touch that makes their volunteer community thrive. It has created a foundation for Age UK to:

• Increase successful volunteer recruitment by aligning digital and in-person methods
• Improve visibility and coordination between national and local teams
• Provide accessible, inclusive routes into volunteering for people with varying digital confidence
• Reduce administrative burden through better use of the Volunteering Hub
• Sustain the human warmth that makes volunteering meaningful, even in a more digital-first environment

“Healthia helped us see how digital can support, rather than replace, the human touch at the heart of volunteering. Their work has given us a greater shared understanding (across teams) of the opportunities but also challenges when adding digital ways to volunteer recruitment.”

Tessa Adelaar –  Head of Digital Experience, Age UK