What’s the ideal length of an exchange?

Are you creating or updating your positions and wondering about the ideal length of an exchange? How many days off to offer and weekly hours to request? Here are some tips and considerations to help you set up a volunteer calendar for your project.

What’s the most common exchange length at Worldpackers?

The majority of our hosts request 25 hours of help per week, offer two days off, and prefer to host travelers for four weeks. So you can be sure that this is the ideal length of time for a traveler to help out a project, explore the area, and learn everything they need to during their exchange.

Can I request a minimum stay length of more than 4 weeks?

Some of our hosts prefer to host volunteers for more than 30 days for the following reasons: they have a long training period; they know that they’ll have a bigger task flow in a given period; their location is difficult to access; etc. If this is the case for you, remember to check local laws to make sure that this is permitted.

We recommend avoiding this practice in the majority of cases, because longer-term stays may create confusing dynamics between you and your volunteers, causing problems of communication/relationship during your exchange. Not to mention you running the risk of forgetting to search for your next volunteer before the one you’re hosting leaves.

You can always host a volunteer for a shorter period initially, and if everything goes well during that time, change their departure date on our platform and extend the exchange.

Can I request more than 25 hours/week of help from volunteers?

If you’re one of the hosts who would like to request more than 25 hours of help per week – remembering that our weekly maximum is 32 hours – you need to know that positions with more than 25 weekly hours aren’t as attractive to volunteers, which can affect the amount of applications you receive, making recruitment more difficult for you.

To make your exchanges more fair and attract more applications, you need to balance out your offering by including more benefits, such as a private room and multiple meals, so that your positions catch the attention of more volunteers.

According to our Terms of Use, it is the responsibility of hosts and travelers to check all rules and documents necessary for collaborative volunteer exchanges in your country. We suggest consulting your local authorities to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

We hope that our tips have helped you to understand the ideal length of exchanges for your project, and if your initial requirements aren’t getting you many applications, you can always adjust them in your positions to attract more travelers.