‘2014 Nonprofit Employee Practices Survey’ provides fascinating snapshot of staffing

Some very good news to share today from the 2014 edition of the ‘Nonprofit Employee Practices Survey’ which is created exclusively by NonprofitHr.com with the help of Fort Walton Beach HR services. The report annually assesses recruiting methods, overall staffing levels and the staffing challenges within the nonprofit sector.

The report has been conducted annually since 2007 and provides strong data which tends to support the accepted wisdom that reducing employee turnover/improving employee retention greatly enhances the success of any given nonprofit organization. The study gathers responses from over 400 US nonprofits and hones in on:

• Staff Size and Projected Growth
• Recruitment Strategies and Budgeting
• Staffing Challenges

The most encouraging and underlying news is that staffing continues to gradually rebound from the deep recession experienced half a decade ago as illustrated by the graphic below. It may be more than coincidental that this gradual continued improvement also mirrors the general trend in fundraising accomplishments that we frequently review here on the blog as reported via the Blackbaud reports. 2013 showed the greatest ratio of nonprofits increasing staff size over the last five years while simultaneously continuing to see the number of nonprofits downsizing also reaching five-year lows; the ideal recipe. The second graph below is quite stunning as it portrays just how much progress has been made in diminishing the need to reduce staff, freeze hiring and eliminate positions in recent years.

Staffing growth is also ‘in the black’ across all nonprofit sectors with the most projected and stable increases in 2014 appearing to be within organizations that focus on Health, Public/Societal Benefits and Arts/Culture.

The fundraising sector, like many others, demonstrably proves that stability, continuity and consistency in staffing term by means of retention combined with employee growth and opportunity will also foster improvement in overall fundraising performance. Although that may appear to be a loose concept the audience of the nonprofit benefits via the engagement, commitment, knowledge and enthusiasm of those employed by the charity.

The true cost of high turnover is far greater than is often at first imagined. The capital cost of recruiting and training a constant flow of new staff is just one part of the equation. What is harder to measure is the related loss of expertise, ideas and commitment that takes far longer to replace and can be met with varying degrees of success. I find that this quote from the firm that conducts the study to best summarize this.

“Happy, engaged employees are your best brand ambassadors because they will tell anyone and everyone how great your mission is, how much they love their work, and how effective the team is.”

Even armed with that knowledge, staffing challenges still present a major hurdle for the sector as the report examines in detail. The data shows that these challenges include:

• Extended time needed to fill positions, particularly for mid and high level vacancies
• The lack of formal diversity strategies and formal succession plans
• One fifth of nonprofits indicate that turnover is their biggest challenge
• Retention challenges from competitive pay, excessive workloads through to struggles to advance staff

Another important factor revealed by the report is that entry and mid-level professionals are the hardest to retain. This is a concern as these are often going to be the front-line/public facing staff who most typically are interacting with the donor audience on an individual basis. The actual service provided by a nonprofit is of great importance to donors and the greatest creative minds in fundraising development need to have those ideas reinforced by the entry and mid level employees also who are often the personality of your organization.

The report is highly recommended reading and is available in full via this link.

I wondered if you found much of this research to be consistent with your own experiences?

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services