Making the Case
The need to develop a labour force strategy may not always be immediately apparent. In many nonprofits, leaders and decision-makers are largely consumed with day-to-day operational matters and may have little time to reflect on the surrounding economic, financial, social or policy environment. Yet no organization exists in a vacuum; what is being experienced at an organizational level is often symptomatic of something that is occurring across the sector.
In the development of this guide, we made an assumption that the real solutions to labour force challenges would be found at a systems level. However, we also recognized that the first signs of trouble often surface with individual organizations and that any solution must also fulfil needs at the local and individual organization level.
How is the bridge made between local need and a systems approach to solutions? And why do we advocate that a systems approach, in the long run, will be the most sustainable and the most effective?
The following scenarios present two stories that show us how the local need bridges to a systems solution.
Scenario 1:
Yasmin, the Executive Director of a small nonprofit that provides employment support for immigrants in one of Canadas largest cities is making a presentation to her board of directors. Demand for the agencys services is growing rapidly, not only in the urban centre, but also in outlying suburban communities. The agency has doubled its staff complement in the past three years and now has a management team of five coordinators and 40 program staff with two additional finance and administrative support staff.
The board and the executive director are discussing the future direction of the agency, the challenges and the opportunities.
Yasmin says, "I see the need for us to grow and I think we provide a good service for our clients. But I worry about recruiting qualified staff to fill the positions we will need. In the last month alone we have posted three jobs and the number of candidates who met the minimum qualifications was very slim. We have recently lost two managers to positions in the in private sector. Its hard to keep good staff."
A board member asks, "How does our salary and benefit compensation compare to similar organizations or to the private sector? And what would it cost us to become competitive?"
Yasmin reluctantly replies, "I'm not sure — it's a concern that is shared across the sector but our association hasnt conducted any studies and there aren't really any other sources of information."
Another board member asks, "What bench strength do we currently have? Are we actively recruiting people for entry level positions? And how are we supporting young emerging leaders? Or for that matter, how do we encourage and support our employees who are new Canadians?
Again Yasmin says in a hesitant and weary voice, "I know these are important questions, but we just don't have the time or resources to fully pursue them. It would be so much easier for us to develop a plan for our agency if we had access to more information about the labour force of our sector and if we could work collaboratively with other agencies to create common recruitment and training opportunities."
Scenario 2:
Katy, the executive director of a shelter for abused women is talking to Rick, a colleague who is the executive director of a shelter for homeless men. Both shelters are located in a mid-size community in eastern Canada.
As the executive director of the women's shelter, Katy relies on one program coordinator, 13 full and part-time shelter workers and one administrative support worker to run a 22-bed facility and eight second stage housing units. The hours are long and Katy wonders how she will continue to recruit qualified workers when the salary is low and there are very few opportunities for her good people to grow within her agency.
Katy asks her colleague, "Hey, Rick, do you have any ideas for training opportunities for my staff? I dont have much money in the budget for professional development, but I've got two really promising young shelter workers and Im afraid unless I can provide opportunities for them to learn more skills, I'm going to lose them."
Rick replies, "Well, I've heard that Toronto shelters have a joint program of staff training and development. Maybe we could find out what they are doing and see if any elements of their program are transferable. I could use that for my staff as well."
Katy replies, "That sounds like a good idea. I wonder if we should see who else might be interested. We are all dealing with the same problem."
Rick ponders for a minute and then says, "It is a good idea, but unless we get at the core of the problem we are just putting a band-aid on it. We really need to attract more people to work in the sector. I'd like to see our local college, and even high schools, training people and encouraging them to become shelter workers."
Katy jumps in, "And we really need to address the salary problems. You're unionized, which has a whole other set of dynamics, I know, but your salaries are pretty competitive — but that's not the case for my agency and for many others."
In summary
In both scenarios, the boards and the executive directors are confronting the challenge of recruiting and retaining a high quality labour force — a challenge experienced throughout the nonprofit sector. They also recognize that the challenge they are facing is bigger than their own organizations and that there are others who are in the same situation. Not only are they going to need to connect with others to get at the root causes of the problem, but they are also going to have to work with others because they just dont have the knowledge or the resources to do it on their own.
This is how almost all collaborative labour force strategies start. One person or a small group of people start to name the challenge they are experiencing and then to look around at peers and colleagues to ask "What needs to be done and who can help us?"
It is our hope that this guide will help to direct your search for answers, provide models and case studies, tools, and resources so that you can join with others to develop a successful and effective a labour force strategy.
