Do you encourage your staff to volunteer?

By Jayne Morris, Chief Executive at TPP Not for Profit.

Charities are very good at encouraging private sector companies to give their staff time off to volunteer, but how many have their own policies in place to support their own employees in volunteering?  In this article, we look at the benefits of promoting volunteering to your organisation’s staff and the different ways in which you can support them.


Why encourage your staff to volunteer?

Charities may think that encouraging their own employees to volunteer may simply be taking them away from their desk for no real benefit, but this is far from the truth.

Your employees have chosen to work in the charity sector and obviously want to support good causes.   It is likely that many of them are already involved in some sort of voluntary activity.  By allowing them time to help other organisations, you are both supporting the sector as a whole and showing your employees that you value them and recognise the value of their volunteer work.

Giving a workforce opportunities for volunteering has been proven to improve productivity, morale, and retention.  This is as true for third sector organisations as for those in the private sector.  An occasional change of scene and a bit of variety in a role can make a huge difference in improving someone’s happiness, as well as giving them a new perspective and the opportunity to look at their current role in a new way.

Volunteering is an excellent and extremely cost-effective way for staff to develop new skills and learn from other organisations.  Charities are very good at sharing best practice, but there’s no substitute for being on the ‘shop floor’ of an organisation to learn how they really do things.  Some organisations even include volunteering done in performance reviews and promotion decisions.

Having your own staff volunteering policy in place could help support your argument when going to the private sector to ask for time or funding.  It’s a great way to demonstrate to companies that you truly believe volunteering is valuable.


How can you encourage volunteering?

There are various different ways in which you can approach volunteering in your organisation, depending on the size and make up of its workforce.  When choosing what to put in your volunteering policy, you need to balance the potential benefits of volunteering against any impact of staff being away from their desks.

As a first step, you could take a proportion of your staff out of the office for a short period of time to work on a specific volunteering project.  Many private sector companies approach these opportunities as team-building exercises.  However, these short-term projects can be difficult to organise and don’t always benefit the recipients in the long term.

You could find another organisation to partner with – perhaps a local charity or one with overlapping aims.  You could then ‘swap’ volunteer employees on a regular basis in a mutually beneficial arrangement; both parties learning from one another’s experience.

Probably the most flexible option is to allocate a certain amount of paid leave each year for volunteering.  Each staff member can then choose where, how and when they use their own volunteering leave, and an employee’s support for a charity can be sustained over the long term.

Rather than give paid leave for all volunteering, some organisations choose instead to match employees’ volunteering time.  So for every hour a member of staff volunteers in their own time, they receive a matched hour of paid leave, up to a specified limit.  This requires a bit more commitment on the part of your employees, but can be a less frightening prospect for smaller organisations.

So what next?

Once you have decided which option best suits your organisation, make sure you have a policy in place which is circulated to all employees (you can find an example policy template here).  Whichever option you choose, your employees will certainly be appreciative.  And remember, volunteering must always be optional and must be done for another organisation, not the employee’s own charity, or it is simply extra unpaid work.

TPP give all of our own employees 5 days volunteering leave a year, and many of our staff are trustees or regular volunteers for various charities.  You can find out more about the volunteering that our staff do on our website.


Find your nearest volunteer centre here:
http://www.volunteering.org.uk/where-do-i-start

Are zero hour contracts right for your organisation?

By Penny Antoniou, Social Care Manager at TPP Not for Profit

Recent government announcements to sanction job seekers who refuse zero-hour contracts, have received a mixed response. With recent statistics from the Office for National Statistics revealing that 1.4 million people are on zero hour contracts, which according to the ONS has increased more than threefold since 2010, we take a look at the benefits, drawbacks and alternatives for charities and other not for profit organisations when considering these types of contracts.

The CIPD results showed that 34% of charities compared with 24% of public sector employers and 17% of the private sector employ staff on zero hours contracts.

Why would you use them?

Zero hour contracts are flexible for both employer and employee. For many charities,operating is becoming increasingly unpredictable, due to changes in funding and the way their services operate; such as service users being given their own budget to spend with providers of care. Therefore they don’t have a regular need for staff and these contracts allow them to meet their users’ needs without wasting funds. For employees who don’t need a set number of hours each week, such as students/carers, zero hour contracts give them the flexibility to work when it suits them.

The government have recently been pushing for more flexibility in terms of staff working hours, home working etc, and the charity sector has traditionally offered more flexibility than commercial organisations. Zero hour contracts offer a lot of flexibility for staff and, unless stipulated in the contract,allow employees to work for more than one organisation, enabling them to ensure they still have a regular income. 

What are the disadvantages?

On the flipside, many people need stability and regular income, so they can manage their everyday bills and commitments. Employees on zero hour contracts can also miss out on benefits, such as pensions, especially when employers offer a certain percentile of salary towards pension contributions. 

People on zero hour contracts may not be fully committed to your organisation if they are working for more than one charity and you may still not have staff available when you need them, as they may be working elsewhere. 

It can be difficult to work out holiday pay, holiday accrued, whether the contract still exists between assignments, especially if they work for more than one employer. It is important to therefore ensure their work is tracked by HR and a good relationship is managed between the employee and manager. 

Zero hour contracts can prevent continuity of care, especially in health care settings where care workers get to know the people they care for and their health needs. Zero hour contracts could result in a breakdown of communication or a lack of staff to cover. 

Not for profit organisations need to consider the negative publicity surrounding zero hour contracts. Only last year, organisations such as Turning Point became the target of news stories. Turning Point did respond to this negative press with a statement; however charities should consider the negative impact on donations and to potential donors compared with the savings they make on these contracts.

Points to consider

Before implementing contracts such as these, organisations should think about their aims and ethos and ensure any contract is consistent with this. Give these contracts to the smallest amount of your overall staffing numbers as possible and regularly review how these are working. Where possible, ensure zero hours staff are receiving the same employment rights as staff with part-time or full-time contracts. 

Ensure you both have a copy of the employment contract and if they are managed by a team/line manager, ensure they are aware of their contract and work in-line with their employment status. At all times the contract should be of benefit to you as an employer and to the employee. 

Consider other types of staffing contracts, such as annualised hours. This offers the employee a fixed salary where they work more hours when there is a need and less otherwise. If more hours are required in addition to the fixed hours, you could consider paying overtime.

Temporary or contract staff also offer flexibility without commitment. By working closely with an agency such as TPP, you could have a bank of candidates available at short notice who are actively looking for temporary work.For further information on our temporary services please contact us on 020 7198 6000 or email info@tpp.co.uk.

For further information or advice on zero hour contracts, you may find the following websites useful:

ACAS

CIPD

To follow the latest news on zero hour contracts visit Google news

Our top tips on creating a healthy working environment

By Rob Muddiman, Healthcare Manager at TPP Not for Profit

Our salary surveys indicate that many employees look at other benefits other than salary when moving roles. Everyone wants their staff to be engaged and happy and every organisation can promote a healthy working environment, regardless of financial benefits. Not only does it keep staff healthy, it can improve productivity, morale and reduce absenteeism. Here we give our top tips on creating a healthy working environment for your staff. 

It may be beneficial if you are a large organisation, to conduct a staff survey to find out personal motivations of staff before implementing a plan.


Encourage staff to move

We all know the benefits of exercise and physical activity; it can help increase attention, speed and decrease stress and anxiety.  To encourage staff to get active offer opportunities, such as a cycle scheme, encouraging them to go for walks and have lunch away from their desk. Offering flexible working hours can enable staff to exercise before and after work. It is important to have Team Managers on board when implementing, in order to encourage others to get moving and lead by example.



Support healthy eating

A well-balanced diet helps us to stay healthy and perform well at work.  We are all more likely to change our habits if we are aware of the benefits. Conduct a questionnaire on what staff want and tailor a plan around this. If you offer food or drink in the office, such as through vending machines or a canteen, ensure there are healthy options available at all times, such as water or fruit delivered to the office for people to eat as a healthy alternative.



Promote well-being

Employees want a positive working environment, which promotes their wellbeing and reduces stress. This could include their workload; ensuring they are able to manage the amount of work they have, having a clearly defined role, that they know what they are responsible for and ensuring good relationships between them and their Managers. A good working environment with natural light, appropriate temperatures and good ventilation all help create a good working environment.


Create a clean workspace

Generally people work better when less cluttered, ensure staff have the work space they need, with monitors at the correct height and a supportive comfortable chair. Employees should be able to adjust their own chairs, monitor (brightness/font size). This should be checked when you carry out workstation assessments. Encourage hot desking, can promote de-cluttering of workspaces and bring people together that may not normally work with one another. This can encourage new ideas; ways of working and help people feel more positive.


Quit smoking

For many, smoking is part of routine and habit, such as a smoking break mid-morning. Find out who smokes and who wants to stop through a questionnaire. Holding an event in the office can get people on board and the support from one another can help people to quit. More information can be found on the British Heart Foundation website to help implement a successful campaign.


You could consider a wellbeing day for your organisation, inviting a company in to undertake lifestyle questionnaires with your staff and give advice on nutrition, physical exercise and general wellbeing advice.

Further information and advice for managers on creating a healthy work environment can be found on the following websites:

British Heart Foundation
ACAS
National Institute for Health & Care Excellence 
Chartered Management Institute 

Creating a talent pipeline for your organisation

By Kate Maunder, TPP Consultant

TPP have just produced an infographic on employment in the voluntary sector (click here to see the full infographic). One of the most interesting areas we looked at was at skills shortages in the third sector, particularly in fundraising, marketing and communications, IT, finance and HR.

Charityworks, the UK’s non-profit graduate programme, has also recently released research showing a concerning lack of talent development within the sector. While one in three of the charity leaders surveyed thought talent was the most important ingredient for success, over 80% said their organisation didn’t prioritise it highly enough. Two thirds expected their recruitment budgets to remain static or decrease in 2014.

As we’ve mentioned before, these talent shortages are likely to get worse in the future as competition for the best employees increases. So how can not for profit organisations ensure that new blood is coming in to the sector and ensure there are clear career paths for existing employees to stop people moving out of the sector? Below are some ideas to consider for your organisation.


Employ young people

The budget squeeze of recent years has made non-profits reluctant to hire for entry-level roles, which could potentially be done by volunteers. In fact, only 51% of voluntary sector employers recruited a young person aged under 25 in 2012, compared to 65% of private sector employers. However, this has helped contribute to the talent shortage as it decreases the pool of people to promote and means new blood is not coming in to the sector.

As well as helping create a pool of future charity leaders, there are other key benefits to employing young people. They can bring enthusiasm to an organisation and contribute new and fresh ideas. Entry level employees can also be more easily moulded into the ideas and working practices of their employer, making them valuable advocates and potential future leaders.

To find out more about bringing new people into your organisation, visit Charityworks or Apprenticeships.org.uk.


Identify potential leaders

Promoting from within your organisation is one of the best sources of new managers, as it gives you a new employee already familiar with your working practices and committed to your cause, with a proven track record, but also keeps your best employees interested and motivate with the potential for promotion.

However, creating career paths for employees is not something the third sector does particularly well, and recent cuts in spending on training and development has only made this worse. Four out of five charity Chief Executives come from the private or public sector, showing an obvious lack of leadership potential from within non-profits.

To increase the potential for career advancement for your employees is a three-step process. You need to identify those people within your organisation who have the potential to become future leaders, look at the potential career paths for those individuals and then give them the opportunity to develop the skills required for leadership. Typical leadership capabilities include agility, judgement, cognitive diversity, anticipation and courage.


Embrace flexible working

More than two-thirds (68%) of the voluntary sector workforce are women but there are fewer women in senior management and there is still a substantial gender pay gap. It’s very important that charities do their best to stop these valuable and experienced employees leaving the sector, eg post maternity leave, and help them achieve the work-life balance they require.

One of the most attractive retention incentives to all employees is the ability to work flexibly, and this just becomes more attractive but also harder to achieve higher up the career ladder. 40% of charity employees already work part-time, and the third sector does already offer excellent flexible working opportunities compared to private sector, but there is always room for improvement – our 2012 flexible working survey found 15% of organisations still don’t offer any flexible working options at all.


Look outside the sector

The biggest skill shortages in not for profits occur in those roles, such as fundraising, that do not have a direct equivalent outside the sector. However open they are to commercial candidates, charities are still reluctant to invest in employees who do not have a proven track record, which really narrows the pool of potential new staff in this area.

However, it is easy to concentrate too much on hard skills and experience, that can be learned on the job, at the expense of softer skills and personality traits, that are much harder to acquire. For example, Fundraisers do not necessarily have to have direct experience in fundraising, grant writing, etc, if they are skilled in relationship building, identifying prospects, producing collateral, giving presentations, or "making an ask”.

Commitment to the third sector and the organisation’s particular cause is also something that commercial candidates may find harder to demonstrate. Volunteer or trustee experience, or even a strong network of contacts in the sector, can be used as concrete evidence of commitment. Candidates from outside the sector also often bring in new skills and ideas and increase the diversity of your workforce. However, there are still challenges to overcome when attracting commercial candidates, eg around salaries.

Find out more about what tempts employees to transfer to the third sector.


Work more closely with your recruiter

Recent research has shown that jobseekers believe recruitment companies are the most effective way of finding out about job opportunities, so it’s important to work closely with your recruiter to make sure you don’t miss out on the perfect candidate.

Reputable recruitment consultants like TPP will be able to give you advice on benchmarking salaries and packages, identifying future talent and creating career paths, as well as supplying you with high quality staff to bring in the new skills you require. We work in long-term partnership with our clients and we like to make sure we have a thorough understanding of their working culture and practices. This helps us find candidates who will be able to grow and contribute to the organisation both immediately and in the long term.

As the demand for the best candidates continues to increase, they have more opportunity to pick and choose and longwinded or complicated recruitment processes can really put them off an organisation. At TPP we try to visit all of our clients so that we can assess their working environment in person and really get a feel for the organisation’s culture – this allows us to make really good matches that work on more levels than just the job description or person specification. We also like to keep in regular contact with our clients, so that we can offer candidates feedback on CVs or interviews and ensure they have a positive impression of your organisation.