PASSION AND COMMITMENT KEY TO WORKING IN VOLUNTARY SECTOR

 

Ottawa, January 14^th, 2004 - A major report on human resource issues in the non-profit sector has just been released by Canadian Policy Research Networks Inc (CPRN).  The study, entitled Passion and Commitment Under Stress: Human Resource Issues in Canada’s Non-profit Sector, points to the key issues affecting the voluntary section.

 

Many of these issues have direct parallels in the cultural sector, as identified by several recent studies, including the Creative Management project of the CCA, and two commissioned by the Cultural Human Resources Council - Face of the Future: A study of Human Resource Issues in Canada’s Cultural Sector (Mercadex), and the National Compensation Study for Management and Administration in Not-for-Profit Arts Organizations (Deloitte and Touche). 

 

Overall, the findings of the CPRN study are reflected in the reports carried out on the cultural sector.  These can be summarized by stating that managers are overworked and burnt out, as well as underpaid and, frequently, undervalued; retention and replacement of managers remains an ongoing challenge.  As one participant in the Creative Management project mentioned when discussing the reasons managers leave the cultural sector: “Passion brought them to the job and lack of passion drives them out”.  

 

Highlights from the CPRN report include:

·         There is a higher percentage of women than men working in the non-profit sector;  as a result, the particular needs of female workers are usually met through initiatives such as flexible work schedules. [Neither the Creative Management project nor the Compensation Study specifically identified the male/female ratio in the cultural sector.  However, a number of participants at the 2002 Chalmers Conference offered the preponderance of women in administrative functions as an explanation for the under-valuing of this work, given that even today women tend to earn less than men in comparable jobs.]

 

·         There is more temporary work (associated with reduced job security), more concerns about training, and fewer opportunities for advancement compared to other sectors. [While Face of the Future points out that the cultural sector “has not yet developed ‘an HR culture’”, the in depth reports and studies released more recently by CCA and CHRC go a long way towards providing the sector with a set of sensible recommendations to further HR development.]

 

·         While expressing overall job satisfaction, older employees in the nonprofit sector also stated they were “dissatisfied/very dissatisfied” with pay and benefits.  Although the work in the sector is generally viewed as stimulating and interesting, compensation levels become increasingly important as older employees draw nearer retirement.

 

·         Some non-profit organizations, particularly the smaller ones, may be caught in a squeeze in relation to recruitment and retention strategies.  This is the vicious circle of low compensation and lack of stable funding on one hand, and the loss of talented staff and difficulty in replacing them on the other. [One comment from the Creative Management project summed it up thus: I’m increasingly aware that conditions of employment in our sector are a major hindrance.  When we’re young, we get into this field because we love the arts so passionately we’re willing to forego ordinary rewards.  As we get older, it’s more obvious that our skills are not valued in any of the ways operative in the outside world ... so people come to their senses and leave.]

 

·         Project funding makes it difficult for non-profit organizations to invest in capacity building, and weakens the organizations’ ability to engage in long-term planning.  The very nature of project-based funding, with multiple funders, results in duplication of paperwork and an onerous burden of reporting.  [In its pre-Budget submissions, the CCA has frequently identified the requirement for a return to core funding to ensure stability and long-term planning for cultural organizations as a key message from the sector.  With the new programmes unrolled under the Tomorrow Starts Today funding, the Department of Canadian Heritage recognized the need of cultural organizations for capacity building and stabilization.]

 

The full Canadian Policy Research Networks’ report can be accessed at: www.cprn.org. 

 

The other reports mentioned above are available at:

www.ccarts.ca (Creative Management in the Arts and Heritage: Sustaining and Renewing Professional Management for the 21^st Century, A Proposed Action Plan for Creating Winning Conditions)            

www.culturalhrc.ca (Face of the Future: A Study of Human Resource Issues in Canada’s Cultural Sector; National Compensation Survey for Management and Administration in Not-for-Profit Arts Organizations)

 

CCA continues its active involvement with the voluntary sector through the membership of the National Director in the various iterations of the group, from the Voluntary Sector Roundtable through the Voluntary Sector Initiative to the current Voluntary Sector Forum.  The association with the broader non-profit sector has proved beneficial to the cultural sector.  CCA continues its work on the Creative Management project (now under the guidance of consultant Sibyl Frei) in partnership with DCH, CHRC, and the Canada Council for the Arts. 

 

For more information:

Kevin Desjardins

Communications and Public Relations Manager

(613) 238 3561 ext.11

Fax (613) 238 4849

info@ccarts.ca

www.ccarts.ca

 

03/04

 

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