Editor’s Note: Looking for current information on compensation in the Canadian nonprofit sector? Check out the 2013 Canadian Nonprofit Sector Salary & Benefits Study.
When nonprofits and charities consider employee remuneration, limited revenues and smaller operating budgets often hamstring them. This can lead to high employee turnover rates.
But many organizations have found that retaining staff doesn’t just boil down to who can pay the most dollars or offer the most non-wage benefits. There are other means of retaining employees and an important one is a welcoming and “nurturing” workplace, with a focus on employee satisfaction as much as the work to be done.
Bend. Stretch. Flex.
Jennifer Wenzel, HR Consultant at Blume Consulting in Ottawa, advises that to keep staff, the first, and obvious, step is to create a working environment that doesn’t give staff any reason to start looking for work elsewhere. Furthermore, cultivating that positive atmosphere can lead to more recruitment.
“If staff believe in the organization and think it’s a great place to work, they are a great resource to turn to when looking for new talent,” Wenzel says. She adds that nonprofits should consider using referral programs internally.
“Extend those referral programs to alumni staff. A referral program doesn’t have to offer a cash bonus, but should always result in a thank you.”
She says nonprofits often offer a unique experience for employees in that they represent “meaningful work, [where] smaller nonprofits often have roles with a wide scope [that] offer a great place to learn and develop skills, and many nonprofits offer flexible work practices.” Such flexible schedules help employees to meet family needs and achieve a more satisfying work/life balance, thus contributing to satisfaction with their workplaces and a willingness to stay with their employer.
Involve your staff
Donna Lockhart, a partner with the Rethink Group believes there’s one solid way to make sure staff is happy: keep them involved and engaged in organizational decisions.
She suggests tackling organizational problems by using “experienced, creative and entrepreneurial” staff. “Do not eliminate them from the problem. Let them help with ideas and suggestions.”
It may seem anathema to executive managers, but she suggests that even if the decisions being made involve such things as releasing staff or downsizing schedules, engaging staff lets them feel they were at least consulted and part of the discussion and solution and this can go a long way. This is rarely done, however.
“Organizations use staff when times are good and it seems when times are bad they want to eliminate staff first. It makes staff feel that they are part of the ‘problem’ because they charge a fee for services, rather than being part of the end solution,” Lockhart says.
Manon Poirier, director of human resources for the YMCAs of Quebec, says her organization’s staff retention strategy is all about inclusivity and it seems to work very well.
“For us, it’s not so much about programs or initiatives [to keep employees happy], but we give them room to create [programs] and trust them with responsibilities at a young age, where they might not have had a chance to have in another environment,” Poirier says.
She adds that the YMCA also prides itself on creating a “trusting” environment, where employees can leverage programming at the institution to make it their own. Additionally, because the Y employs a lot of youth, mostly students, it ensures flexible work schedules to allow time for studies and other activities.
“We welcome ideas that come from all our employees. This attracts and keeps people longer than many expected,” she says.
The YMCA Quebec employs approximately 1,600 people: 400 full-time, the rest part-time. It also engages 1,400 volunteers.
Poirier also notes that her organization invests in staff development for things such as specialized training or skills development. While she admits that as a well- established, larger nonprofit, the Y has more resources than many other sector organizations, the basic principle can be applied to organizations across the board.
“Our employees understand that we don’t just view them as employees, but rather as people who also have other interests,” she says.
The link between job satisfaction and retention
Findings from the HR Council‘s 2008 survey of nonprofit sector employees illustrated a clear link between job satisfaction and retention: the greatest differences between employees reporting they were very satisfied or less than satisfied showed up in ratings of recognition for work, amount of influence on decision making, evaluation and feedback, and opportunities for career advancement. Data analysis indicated that 40% of the “less than satisfied” employees were very likely or would definitely resign in the next 12 months, while only 19% of the “very satisfied” group intended to leave within that time frame. Employers would be well advised to pay attention to the elements of work that seem to make a real difference in employees’ satisfaction.
Yet HR Council data from 2008 also shows that the most common response given by employers when asked what they did to make their workplace more attractive to employees in the past 12 months, was “did not do anything”.
The happy top five for nonprofits
Maya Norton, an award-winning blogger and international nonprofit consultant who pens The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy and Innovation, wrote a revealing post in May 2008 that clearly encapsulates what factors influence workplace satisfaction in nonprofits.
“Everybody knows that nonprofit environments are notorious for their employee turnover because of low pay and long hours,” she wrote. “Employers seem to think — or hope — that the mission of an organization is strong enough and meaningful enough to keep a worker afloat without money to pay the bills.”
This of course is pure bunkum, she noted. However, Norton put together a list she called “The Nonprofit Employee’s Top Five List of Must Haves” in a workplace:
- A workplace culture that provides a shared experience of common values and goals.
- The ability to build connections with supervisors and support staff in order to develop experience and share that with colleagues and related nonprofits.
- A decent boss who can take on the role of a visionary in the field. “Everyone wants a guru,” she says.
- Plenty of opportunities for mentoring and critique for personal development and growth.
- Potential for growth or lateral movement through recommendations and “anything that will elevate the employee in her current position are viewed as optimal gains.”
The full write-up is a great baseline for organizations wishing to understand the mindset of the happy nonprofit employee.
Lynn Brown, managing director at Brown Consulting, echoes Norton’s take on keeping employees happy in the nonprofit world.
Brown says employees take note of certain actions by nonprofit employers that can and do affect their happiness at work.
Aside from “more creative and generous” benefits packages, which only some nonprofits can afford to offer, Brown says allowing employees “more generous” time off and recognizing hard work and commitment to the organization both go a long way towards ensuring a happy workplace.
“In a lot of organizations you’ll get people who are committed to the cause, but who don’t want to [end up] living at the organization,” she says. “Often, nonprofits are started by founders who are very committed to a cause, but who don’t always recognize how much work and effort is being put into it…because the founders run the organization very lean.”
Brown says that in these scenarios, employees begin to resent being taken for granted or simply burn out. “And that’s when they leave.” However, the flip side of this is working for an organization that does recognize staff and, like Poirier’s methods at the Y, actually empowers employees and makes them feel wanted.
“Doing really small things for people in the office to let them know that they matter makes a really big difference. Things like providing food — cookies or apples, for instance — or, planning out more social events or social time [and] celebrating milestones and personal achievements in recognizable and tangible ways,” Brown says.
Sometimes, it is about the money.
Lockhart says one of the best ways to ensure you keep your staff happy and project a welcoming workplace, is to make sure you have a sound budget for staff.
While it doesn’t always boil down to money, staff will never be happy being summarily fired, or witnessing colleagues dismissed, for lack of funds, she says.
“I think it is safe to say that the budgets of most organizations would show most of the funds go to staffing,” Lockhart says. “The bigger you get, this aspect usually grows. I think [nonprofits] need to have sustainable, realistic plans with money in the bank before they even consider hiring staff.These funds need to be secure or the organization usually cannot expand services or programs. Boards need to understand they are employers and seek the funds to keep the organization going.”
Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf is president of WordLaunch professional writing services in Toronto. He can be reached at andy@wordlaunch.com.
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