Trends & Issues
A Call to Action
Implementing the recommendations from the HR Council’s Voluntary & Non-profit Labour Force Study
Lynne Toupin |
Lynne Toupin is the executive director of the HR Council for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector. She has led a number of non-profit organizations over her career including the Canadian Co-operative Association and the National Anti-Poverty Organization. She co-chaired the Accord Table for the Voluntary Sector Initiative, which led to a written agreement between the Government of Canada and the voluntary and non-profit sector. |
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Over the past two and a half years, the HR Council has undertaken a comprehensive research initiative entitled Toward a Labour Force Strategy for the Voluntary and Non-profit Sector in order to provide a better understanding of our sector’s labour force .
The goal of a labour force strategy in any sector is to make sure that it has access to the people and skills it needs. Other sectors of the Canadian economy have long thought in those terms. Industries like mining, tourism, construction as well as the police, cultural and child care sectors, to name a few, all have data and information about their work forces, can reasonably predict demand for various jobs in the future based on an assessment of sector trends and issues, and have identified a range of strategies to ensure that labour supply meets demand.
Our sector is only beginning to think in those terms. While we have better data about the value of the sector’s contribution to the economy, we are only now beginning to pay attention to the people who work in this sector.
This research initiative resulted in three reports: one which identified key trends and demands that are shaping the need for people and skills in this sector and a second report on the findings of a Canada-wide survey of employers and employees. Released in June, the Study’s third and final report outlines five broad recommendations to the sector writ large for action on HR and labour force issues. Rooted in the findings from the first two reports, as well as in our extensive consultations with sector and other stakeholders, the recommendations are meant to help us ensure that we have the right people with the right skills at the right time. If we truly believe that our work in non-profits has value and is essential to fostering strong, resilient, and healthy communities and individuals, then we all have a stake in acting on these five recommendations:
Recommendation 1: Attracting and developing the people organizations need
Like other sectors of the economy, we cannot and should not settle for second best when it comes to attracting the talent we need to achieve organizational mission and results. While we know that salaries and benefits are not always competitive due to constrained resources, that is no excuse for us to not work towards ensuring excellence in a range of other HR management policies and practices.
Non-profits also need plans to support the ongoing development of their employees, especially with a new generation of talent coming onboard. Younger employees understand the need to self-manage their careers but also expect their employers to contribute to the further development of their skills and knowledge so they can do their jobs better or to help them prepare to take on other more challenging positions.
Good governance involves good HR management. That means boards of directors have to understand that their governance roles and responsibilities influence effective HR management practices. A board’s connection to HR management depends on the structure of the board and the organization, but ultimately the board is directly responsible for creating the context for the organization to be a good employer.
Recommendation 2: Benefiting from the full range of talent
In order to benefit from the full range of talent available in the labour force and to contribute to an equitable, accessible labour market, non-profits must make intentional efforts to be more inclusive. Inclusiveness has implications for the recruitment and retention of immigrants, members of visible minorities, people from First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, people with disabilities, and those who are marginalized because of sexual orientation, gender or gender orientation. Notably, the generation currently entering the labour force is more diverse than older generations, so the recruitment of young talent and the cultivation of a culture of inclusion are likely to go together.
The Labour Force Study’s survey findings (Report 2) indicated that the non-profit labour force is generally less diverse than the Canadian labour force overall – in fact, 89% of survey respondents identified as white or Caucasian. While some organizations in some communities have very inclusive workplaces, overall our sector is lagging behind the private and public sectors in reaching out and hiring those who may not look or necessarily think like the rest of us. Engaging a wider diversity of opinions, ideas and experiences can only enrich organizations in their efforts to be both more responsive to their changing communities and innovative in their efforts to find new solutions to new challenges.
Recommendation 3: Promoting the value of work in the sector
During the course of its many consultations with sector stakeholders over the last several years, the HR Council consistently heard people express feelings that their work is undervalued because they work in the non-profit sector as opposed to doing similar work in the private or public sectors.
When our sector promotes the value of the work we do, there are a number of audiences to consider. All Canadians should be aware of the impact that the sector and its labour force have on society, the economy and communities across the country. Prospective employees are another important audience – they should know that a career in the non-profit sector offers unparalleled opportunities for contribution and satisfaction. Still, it is difficult to promote work that is stressful and underpaid, so embedded in the idea of promoting jobs in the sector is the need to ensure that working conditions in our organizations are worthy of being recommended to prospective employees.
Recommendation 4: Ensuring financial resources to sustain the sector’s labour force
The goal of this recommendation is the widespread acceptance of principles for both funding and spending that align with HR needs. This involves making sure there are sufficient resources to attract, retain and develop employees, but it also involves changing prevailing notions about costs that are (and are not) deemed legitimate. In certain contexts, this may also mean changing perceptions – the perception that the sector offers a cheap way to get work done along with the sector’s claims that we can do many things for a much lower cost.
To sustain and develop the sector’s labour force, a range of stakeholders will have to ensure that the necessary financial resources are in place. Organizations, their boards, their funders and unions all have a role to play in leading our sector towards competitive compensation, good working conditions and effective HR management.* An array of mechanisms – including funding contracts, agreements with donors and other arrangements – can help to align financial resources with a long-term view of our sector’s HR needs.
Recommendation 5: Focusing on research and development
It will be difficult for us to move forward on labour force issues without sound and up-to-date empirical information about our sector’s workforce. Because a labour force strategy will require action in many areas and from many players, research data must be widely accessible in order to be useful.
The Labour Force Study and its findings are the first concrete examples of empirical evidence that the HR Council has gathered about the non-profit sector’s labour force. We encourage and invite others such as research organizations, academics, and national and provincial organizations and networks to undertake labour force research that can provide evidence that will make the case for change. As we move forward, data will need to be relevant to local and regional labour markets and not just provide a national picture.
The last thing we want is for this Labour Force Study to become yet another set of reports gathering dust on a shelf in your office. In the last few months, the HR Council board has reviewed and revised the organization’s strategic priorities to ensure alignment with these recommendations. The HR Council can and will play an active role as a catalyst, convenor, research instigator and as an ongoing source of information about labour forces and HR issues. However – we cannot do this alone. Action has to come from a wide range of players both within and outside the sector if we are indeed going to become better at getting the right people with the right skills at the right time. Whether you’re an employer, an employee, a funder, a policy maker or a researcher — we invite you to read our Labour Force Study Reports, along with its companion piece Mission Driven, which makes a strong and compelling case for taking action on work force issues in this sector. Because in the end, the work of the non-profit sector is work our society simply can’t do without.
* For an interesting perspective on this issue, I invite you to read The Non-profit Starvation Cycle, an article that appears in the fall 2009 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. |
