There has been a lot of talk about how the voluntary sector is being affected by the recession and public spending cuts. The sector provides vital services, and cuts to these are and will affect people right across society. But cuts to the sector are also affecting those who work within it. As with every part of the economy, jobs are being lost and becoming less secure. The sector has historically high rates of job satisfaction, but is there a risk that this will be eroded by job cuts, insecurity and increased workloads? Recent research seems to suggest that job satisfaction in the voluntary sector, while still higher than average, is falling.
The Third Sector Research Centre regularly measures numbers, conditions and attitudes of people working in the voluntary sector. We are eagerly awaiting the latest figures from the Labour Force Survey, which will allow us to analyse the most recent trends. In the current climate, our workforce researchers are asking how the sector can maintain and develop the best possible workforce – and are holding an event around this in September. There is continual debate about pay in the sector, especially in times of cuts and austerity. But while some bemoan large salaries paid to charity executives, research shows that those at the top get paid far less than in the private sector, and pay gaps between those at the top and bottom as well as between men and women, are much lower. See TSRC’s work on women in the third sector and this article on third sector pay in Civil Society. These are arguably the kind of conditions that define the voluntary sector, that motivate people to work in it, and something the sector should protect.
It’s worth remembering too that the recession hits different kinds of third sector organisations, in different parts of the country, very differently. Whilst charities doing ‘trendy’ things in popular urban areas can attract highly qualified graduates to work for free as interns, charities in areas of high unemployment can benefit from job centre schemes for the long term unemployed which fund 6 month placements. These might both be benefits to the sector - but they are very different kinds of benefits. Statistical research shows that very real inequalities exist in the rates of volunteering and participation in different areas of the country. If reliance on volunteers is to increase, we must be careful about increasing inequalities in charity resources.
At TSRC and the Work Futures Research Centre, our research asks all these questions and more. What should the priorities of organisations be in the face of funding cuts, how can they best plan for their future workforce, build the skills of their paid and voluntary staff. What type of volunteers can they expect to gain – is the recession boosting participation from older people, or certain types of younger people who wish to boost their CV’s or gain marketable skills? Have job losses elsewhere in the economy opened up new sources of recruitment to the sector?
If you are interested in exploring these questions with us, please join us for The Future of Work in the Third Sector on 22 September in London. More information will appear on the TSRC website as the project develops.