Has anyone volunteered through workaway.info?

hello,
i am a host for workaway.info and have found it very rewarding. I have had the same people come back again too so i must be doing something right.lol basically i provide a home and food in return for 5 hours work a day for 5 days a week but if people want to change the hours we are very flexible, we expect people to help muck in with general chores around the house as well. we ask for help with animals, building, general repair and gardening, hope thos helps a little. i find that there are too little hosts around for the people wanting to take the places. good luck with your search and i really hope you take it up, both you and the host family will gain from it. xx

hello,
i am a host for workaway.info and have found it very rewarding. I have had the same people come back again too so i must be doing something right.lol basically i provide a home and food in return for 5 hours work a day for 5 days a week but if people want to change the hours we are very flexible, we expect people to help muck in with general chores around the house as well. we ask for help with animals, building, general repair and gardening, hope thos helps a little. i find that there are too little hosts around for the people wanting to take the places. good luck with your search and i really hope you take it up, both you and the host family will gain from it. xx

As a host on the workaway network, and also part of a group of like minded hosts, I would say to anyone considering using the workaway system, just go for it!! If something like this had been available when I was younger I would have jumped at the opportunity.
Yes there are hosts out there who are only interested in getting a lot of labour done for very little. However there are many more hosts who embrace the concept of the workaway. It is not just having someone in the house who does 'some work' it is having someone in the house who can share their experiences and we can share ours, more of a cultural exchange than a simple work for food n bed. I agree with the comments above regarding preliminary research before agreeing to stay with a host - ask them what will be required. As for not answering enquiries, we ALWAYS respond. We treat our workaways with respect, not as someone above described as 'skivvies'. At the end of the day, check out what is required and what is given...It is that simple.

Where is it that you host? I would love to try work away!

We are in the South of France. Just South of the medieval city of Carcassonne.

Hello there, yes. I would say please do not support this organisation who is set up as a charity but it is a business. I paid money and then for no reason was locked out of the account. When I posted it on facebook they blocked me. I know of others who have had terrrible experiences with hosts. If you report a host to them they immediately lock your account. so do not believe all that they write to make you think that they give a ****. I think you can have good experiences but there are just as many bad experiences and they are not reported or publicly not known. A lot of the time one is used literally just for free work and there really is no interest by the host to teach you or exchange anything, it is often in the west, families who are too miserly to pay workers, or those who are genuine and do not have the money , fair eough but this is rarely the case and in fact in germanY I heard this kind of work is in fact illegal. So the idea that it should be for travellers when there are families, hosts that use workaways for years on end, so you can build their dreams for free, or say childcare, avoid having to pay for it is not really what it is about. Some hosts are downright dishonourable. Also you pay to get there and they can just change their midn at a drop of a hat and then what. I think the old fashioned woofing, which originated from australia is okay but they kept my money and I still had 6 months, and refuse to tell me why.