If a Workaway Exchange Does Not Go Well, What Do You Do?
Thanks to Susan for sharing her experiences as a Workaway host with us, and for inspiring us to spark a discussion about them with our community. Just as a preface to this, we would like to say that we STRONGLY recommend that all workawayers travel with suitable insurance policies to protect themselves and prevent situations such as this from arising!
What Would You Do?
We have been hosting travelling volunteers via Workaway for over two years now and have had in excess of 60 travellers come through our doors. It has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for us and we have encountered very few problems. Those we have come up against have been minor and easy to deal with, simply by sitting down to communicate with each other in a respectful and open manner. However, we had a situation recently that really left us scratching our heads and wondering what to do and what the right course of action should have been.
Let me explain.
We had a traveller show up looking pale and unwell. Naturally we asked him if he was alright and he reported that he had been suffering with diarrhea for two weeks. Our first reaction was to offer to take him to a doctor, but he refused saying that he had already seen a doctor in his previous location and that the doctor had suggested tests be carried out which were going to cost money and take time to obtain the results. Our workawayer said he had neither of these commodities to spare.
We suggested he rest that day and try to get a good night sleep and we would see how he was in the morning. The next day he reported that he was not feeling any better and that he was weak, fatigued and unable to help with any agreed tasks. This was the case for the entire ten days he was booked to be with us. So in short, we upheld our side of the agreement by providing accommodation and food (yes, he still had an appetite) but got no help from him in exchange and very little interaction throughout the stay.
This was frustrating for many reasons and raised many questions.
A skeptic might jump to the conclusion that this poor guy was faking it and just wanted a free ride, but we are not skeptics and he did look unwell. Further, he had good reviews from his previous Workaway hosts, which led us to believe that he was having genuine difficulties. While we understood and sympathised with his situation we had to take on all the extra work he was initially going to help with, and didn’t end up connecting with him like the many friends we made with our past workawayers either. We did find it hard not to feel a little resentment that we were not getting a fair deal. After all, we are only human.
Our guest left, still feeling unwell ten days later and we felt bad and relieved at the same time: now that he was no longer under our roof, we no longer felt responsible for his wellbeing anymore, but at the same time we were left wondering if we could or should have done more for him.
Would it have been the right thing to do to insist he go to a doctor and pay for it ourselves if necessary?
We are curious to know if other hosts have had similar experiences and how they handled it, or if they do in the future how they would act under similar circumstances.
Could we have asked for some money to cover at least the food he consumed?
Should we have insisted he get in touch with family or friends to send funds to cover medical expenses?
We would also like to pose similar questions to Workaway volunteers. What would you have done under these conditions? Do you have a contingency in your travel budget to cover medical expenses? Would you feel comfortable staying and eating at a host location and not contributing towards your keep if you are unable to help out in any way?
Given that this has only happened once to us in over two years of hosting, we accept that it is an exceptionally rare and unusual scenario that most likely will never happen again. However it would be helpful to explore different options if we can have other points of view and comments from the community in case we, or other hosts, ever face this situation (again) in the future.
Tips for Securing a Positive Exchange
In our opinion, doing everything in kindness is the best way to approach any situation, whether this is from our own perspective or trusting others to do the same. Becoming a host and letting strangers from all over the world come to us has been a big leap of faith for us, and despite the one negative experience, we do not regret our decision at all and plan to continue doing so. We can also confidently say that the majority of people who have stayed with us have offered us a level of respect, generosity and amazing friendship beyond what we could hope for.
While we believe we have done the best given the unexpectable circumstances, we have come up with a few points to keep in mind when arranging our future exchanges (so as to prevent situations like these from happening):
- Recommend your Workaway guest to have their own insurance covered before agreeing to an exchange
- Suggest a shorter trial period before proceeding to agree to a longer-term stay
- Communicate our expectations clearly to establish boundaries. This goes both ways in ensuring our exchange can be a mutually beneficial one
- Try to be understanding and keep an open mind if things do not go as planned: our guest is far away from home and often relies on us to help them feel at ease in an unfamiliar setting. Coming from different cultures and lifestyles means we may not see everything eye to eye, but any small disagreement can easily be put aside once we take the time to understand each other’s point of view and talk through our differences…
The True Meaning of Hosting
A fellow Workaway host sums it up nicely when asked about how we ought to treat our guests. “You treat the volunteers like family, and we understand the volunteers have family at home who are worried about them… so I would take care of them.
I would expect somebody to do this for my boy if he was around the world somewhere also. We’re all just people, and we need to be family.” - host Martin from Ireland, who reflected on his unusual experience during the pandemic. He had welcomed workawayer Patricia from Chile into his household just as Covid hit the world, and when travel restrictions began, Martin decided to do the only thing he could to help: offer to extend the exchange indefinitely until Patricia was able to return home. Despite the less than ideal situation and the unexpected change of plans, this ended up becoming a priceless experience for everybody where Martin gained an unofficially adopted daughter, his son an older sister, and Patricia a second home she knows she can always return to when she next visits Ireland!
We host travellers and volunteers not only because we want help, but also because of the meaningful human connections that come with opening our doors. With an open mind, clear communication, kindness and an extra dose of positivity, these exchanges can turn out to be some of the greatest life experiences we can create for each other.
About Contributor
We are so glad to have an active community of travellers and hosts who’ve been inspired by their Workaway experiences and want to share with us! Be it a funny story, interesting insights or helpful ti
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