Get involved in the largest ever study on – and for – Australia’s NFP workforce

Want more insights into your staff and volunteers, and how they compare to others in the NFP sector?

The Australian Not-for-Profit Workforce Study wants to help!

The largest ever survey on and for NFP organisations, employees and volunteers, the Workforce Study is aiming to identify what matters most for making Not-for-Profit work healthier, more meaningful, and more productive.

Created by Dr Ramon Wenzel and his team at the Centre for Social Impact at the University of WA, the study is open to all levels of employees and volunteers at Australian NFPs.

And the more people who respond, the more representative and useful the results for growing people, organisations, and their impact.

“Every day, all Australians benefit from the essential work of the NFP sector, but there is a distinct lack of attention and resources directed to these employees and volunteers,” Dr Wenzel says.

“This study will bring more scientific rigour and practical evidence to the management of NFP organisations and people. All findings will be freely shared with the sector. No invitation is needed.”

With 1 million staff employed in the NFP sector and an additional 5 million volunteers across Australia, their health, engagement, and continuous learning are key for NFP organisations to survive and thrive.

The study focuses on these 7 key research areas:

• Learning: Understand how to develop NFP talent and what learning experiences increase innovation and impact.
• Wellbeing: Diagnose what promotes NFP employee and volunteer health and organisational sustainability.
• Competencies: Chart the most important knowledge, skills, and abilities to build thriving NFP careers and organisations.
• Diversity: Describe the demographics and needs of the NFP workforce for each domain, jurisdiction, and job type.
• Engagement: Investigate what makes employees and volunteers stay, happy, and proactive.
• Job Design: Find better ways to organise NFP work so practice and policy meet purpose.
• Leadership: Identify what it takes to share power for a collective effort and a better Australia.
  

The new study follows on from the Dr Wenzel’s pioneering 2015 research on the social return on education & training that has shown that NFP organisations that focus on and develop their staff, do better.

Get workforce analytics for your organisation – and see how you compare to others

For organisations that participate, the benefits won’t just be the warm, fuzzy feeling of contributing to something fantastic for the sector.

All participating NFPs will receive their own Workforce Analytics Dashboard reflecting the data collected from their staff and volunteers.

The dashboard is an at-a-glance report on staff learning, engagement, well-being, and more than 30 key metrics that matter for people, performance, and purpose.

NFP organisations that invite their employees and volunteers to complete the survey will get immediate insights, and also be able to compare their relative position to NFP sector benchmarks.

See a live demo of the personalised dashboard here.

Participating NFP employees and volunteers will also receive a free Personal Analytics Report with insights and suggestions on their job satisfaction, work autonomy, professional development, well-being, and more.

To learn more, complete the survey, and invite staff, go to www.learningforpurpose.org/study

Be quick though: if you want that valuable data, make sure your staff and volunteers complete the survey by 31 October 2017.

Just in case you’re wondering: The Australian Not-for-Profit Workforce Study is realised by Learning for Purpose, an initiative by the Centre for Social Impact, The University of Western Australia, and supported by the Australian Research Council, EY, Australian Scholarships Foundation, and Australian Executor Trustees. EthicalJobs.com.au is a partner in Learning for Purpose.