Why Do Nonprofits Treat Their Employees Like Crap? (Part II: A UK Perspective)

This is a guest post by Maryam Pasha, one of the founders of Young Professionals in Human Rights, a UK network which aims to share resources and experiences and promote innovation within the field of human rights.

Seeing Rosetta’s latest blog (“Why do nonprofits treat their employees like crap?”) I thought, “Finally someone has the guts to write about this!” Far too often I hear young third-sector (charity/non-profit sector in the UK) employees talking about their frustration and unhappiness.

One big problem with writing about this in the UK are the very strict libel laws, which mean you think twice about opening yourself up to legal action and most people won’t risk it. That being said, the concerns I write about in this blog are taken from many different conversations and do not refer to only one organisation.

What are the most common and worrying issues I hear talked about among my peers? Here are my top 5:

1. Organisations do not reflect the values, much like Rosetta mentioned they don’t “walk the talk”. Psychologically this is about cognitive dissonance – the uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously and how unsustainable this way of thinking is in the long term.

2. Lack of management or leadership. Either organisations have turned into institutions with endless bureaucracy and rigidity or they have zero structure and process and are constantly fire fighting. Also, there is no leadership, no support and no mechanisms to progress or gain skills. At the extremes, organisations ignore bullying and sexually inappropriate behaviour.

3. Being undervalued and disposable. Employees (and interns) are sucked dry of their skills, passion and motivation and then discarded – easily replaced by the long line of people willing to work even harder for less pay just to get their foot in the door of the non-profit sector.

4. Too busy saving the world. Particularly the case if you work in the front-line, organisational culture is often makes employees feel that they should not complain or ask for anything more than they have – because the cause they are working for it too important for their “selfish needs”.

5. Short-term contracts. I could go on and on about the lack of labour rights in this sector, but I’ll let you read the first hand experience of one young non-profit professional going through the hell of a short term contract.

With all this doom and gloom, it’s easy to see why many organisations I’ve spoken to recently are losing their staff to the private sector. It’s imperative for organisational culture to change and for managers and CEOs to start opening up lines of communication with their staff. But also, it’s important for us to stand up and openly talk about these issues instead of suffering in silence.

What can we do? I don’t have the answer, but I have a few ideas below. Any other suggestions welcome (please leave a comment below):

1. Leadership development: There are a number of great leadership programmes out there like Common Purpose and CharityWorks that are working to develop leadership and also in the case of CharityWorks to engage employers in the process. Simply put, organisations need to understand that managers need more support to give support and also that it is as important to know the substantive subject matter as it is to have people and communication skills.

2. Accountability and transparency: I have discussed extensively with a few peers the need for a site like Rate My Prof or Glassdoor for the UK third sector (note: some large US charities are currently on Glassdoor), which would allow employees to talk openly about their work standards and salaries, something that could increase standards of accountability for employers and encourage internal dialogue.

3. Unionisation: I know that there are mixed feelings about unions. However, I think there is real value in the idea of having a collective voice and power and the ability to use union-like structures to voice complains and grievances without fear of losing your job.

4. The role of funders: The way in which organisations are funded impacts the employee relationship paradigm. Lack of long term funding, means that many 3rd sector organisations refuse to employ people on any basis more permanent than a contract, which is renewable at the employer’s discretion. There is also little to no allocation for staff or team development. I believe funders have a responsibility to understand how their funding impacts the organisation and its staff – rarely do funders enquire let alone investigate the working conditions they are funding.

Note that everything mentioned in this blog also applied to internships – a topic that has rightly been gaining a lot of attention in the UK. I’d like to highlight the excellent work of Internocracy and Interns Anonmymous who are both working to make internships more fair and effective.

Finally, I wanted to clarify my intentions for writing this blog. My goal is not to create a laundry list of grievances or to belittle the excellent work that many third sector organisations do. As with all issues I think it is important to start talking so that people no longer feel alone or isolated and that through this communication collective action and solutions will emerge. Check out Young Professionals in Human Rights for more of this type of thinking!

Maryam Pasha is one of the founders of Young Professionals in Human Rights, a UK network which aims to share resources and experiences and promote innovation within the field of human rights. She is also the Network & Innovation Manager at the Migrants Rights Network, a UK charity that promotes policy analysis, partnerships and debate for the rights of all migrants. Any opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author.