All employers face challenges when it comes to finding and retaining good employees.  Employees are arguably the most valuable assets in any company, and even more so in non-profit organizations.

As Peter Drucker has pointed out in Managing the Non-Profit Organization, the yield from employees is really what determines the organization’s performance.  The specialized skills and effort of employees is the “product” of non-profits – the ability to create meaningful change.  Non-profits face several challenges meeting their human resource needs.

High Competition

With overall unemployment low and wages on the rise, the pool of qualified candidates for non-profits is lower than ever.  In addition, the growing number of non-profits means more organizations are competing for experienced managers and staff. However, organizations struggle with barriers such as lower earning potential, lack of mentorship, a strain on employee work/life balance and overwhelming fundraising responsibilities.

Unique Skills Required

Many non-profit organizations require unique skill sets to accomplish their mission. Non-profits can have a difficult time filling positions for finance, healthcare, education, or environmental issues. With roughly half of organizations struggling to hire qualified talent for critical positions, non-profits must actively engage in the search for the specialized skills they need.

Mismatched expectations

Employees chose to join a non-profit for a variety of reasons. It may be that they thought that when they worked for a non-profit that they would get a chance to help drive real change in the world.  Or they expected a non-profit to be a different style of employer.  In reality, in most cases the non-profit work environment is not that much different than a similar position in a for-profit organization. The employees lose heart and leave either to another non-profit whom they think is promising more or back to the for-profit world. It is key to nurture and sustain employee engagement for any organization and especially a non-profit to be successful.

Please join us on November 30 at 1:00 PM to learn how HR technology can transform your non-profit and change its trajectory. An HCM (Human Capital Management) system can make a measurable difference between organizational success and failure.

Upcoming Live Webinar:
Topic: Transformative HR Technology For Nonprofits
Register Here | Date: Nov 30