Unease in charity sector affects line management relationships
March 2011
Although 'Giving something back' has generally been an area where the public and third sectors do better in than the private sector,
the relationship between an employee and their line manager has now become rather more vulnerable, according to the inaugural Sunday Times list of the 100 Best Places to Work in the Public and Charity Sectors.
Made up of 76 charitable organisations and 24 public ones, a total of 246 organisations registered for the survey with 50,000 employees taking part.
The 70 statements in the employee questionnaire are all grouped into one of eight clearly defined factors, and success in each one is what determines an organisation’s position in this ‘league table’. The factors are:
- Leadership − how employees feel about the head of the organisation and senior managers.
- Wellbeing − how staff fell about stress, pressure and the balance between their duties at work and at home.
- My manager − people’s feelings towards their immediate boss and their day-to-day managers.
- My team − people’s feelings about those they work with most closely.
- Fair deal − how happy the workforce is with pay and benefits.
- Giving something back − to what extent staff believe their organisation contributes to society in general and the local community in particular.
- My company − feelings about the organisation staff work for as opposed to the people they work with.
- Personal growth − whether staff feel challenged by their job, feel their skills are being used and if there is scope for advancement.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Joanne Robertson observes: “There is a significant difference in performance across these factors not only in contrast with the private sector, but also between the public and charity sectors. Generally, charities such as the Bible Society…achieve much higher scores than public sector bodies across all factors.”
She goes on to reveal that the charity sector’s lead has been ‘eroded’ as the scores in the top 25 have dropped, with the biggest fall occurring in the ‘My manager’ category − down 1.6 per cent. “This comes at a time when managers are in the firing line, often handling budget cuts at the same time as trying to ensure that staff do not become disengaged during a difficult period”, she assumes.
Carla Cavanagh, head of research at Best Companies believed that charity managers needed to involve their staff in ‘doing more with less’ and to get on and ‘build a strong, supportive team’.
The winner of the list was Julia’s House Hospice, based in Poole, Dorset and employing 118 staff. The charity, which caters for terminally ill children, was started by Julia Perks, a specialist nurse before she died of cancer. The nature of the work there can be very upsetting for employees, who have access to a 24-hour counselling helpline.
The top ten in the Sunday Times list are set out in the table below.
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(Children’s hospice)
(Personal care provider)
(Educational charity)
(Social exclusion charity)
(Social landlord)
(Children’s charity)
(Youth advice charity)
(Policing)
(Hospice)
(Social exclusion charity)
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