America's nonprofit organizations are focusing on
their missions to attract and retain the next
generation of employees, according to a report released
last week by the
Johns Hopkins University Nonprofit Listening Post
Project.
By emphasizing that the nonprofit workplace can offer
a greater sense of personal fulfillment
and flexibility compared to many jobs in the for-profit
world, nonprofit practitioners are finding it
possible to respond to the staff recruitment and retention
challenges they are facing, according to
the participants in a roundtable convened by Johns Hopkins
researchers. "Our participants'
experiences show that offering staff a life of meaning can
be a powerful tool for recruitment that
appeals to both millennials and baby boomers," said Lester
M. Salamon, report author and director of
the Center for Civil Society Studies
at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies. Other
techniques being used to attract millennials involve
shifting recruitment efforts to the Internet and
exploring ways to offset student loan obligations.
Appealing to the millennial generation is one of four
key work force recruitment and retention
strategies identified by the nonprofit practitioners and
other work force experts participating in the
roundtable, which was convened to follow up on a prior
survey on nonprofit work force challenges. The
other strategies are:
♦ Selling the "context"ัthe physical
environment, the work environment and, particularly,
the "mission." Noted one roundtable participant: "We give
our employees and recruits numerous
opportunities to hear about the organization's values and
discuss whether we are living up to them.
This has made a huge difference for us in attracting and
retaining a work force."
♦ Approaching recruitment proactively. Given
the lack of knowledge young people have
about nonprofits, organizations are actively reaching out
to potential recruits. One organization
created a "next generation leadership council" of young
professionals in their 20s and 30s that has
resulted in participants becoming board members and donors,
as well as bringing their friends to the
organization. Another reported that its most successful
recruitment and retention activity is its
formal internship program, with about 60 percent of its
interns being hired as staff each year.
♦ Redefining work and the work environment.
Organizations are redesigning benefit
packages to adjust to new family structures, offering
flexible working hours and utilizing focus groups
to stay attuned to worker concerns.
Roundtable participants also identified some
additional steps that are needed to allow
nonprofits to meet the work force recruitment and retention
challenges they face. These include
greater nonprofit recognition of the need to staff, and
invest in, human resource departments to be
more effective in recruitment and retention; improved
programs to offer relief to debt-burdened
recent college graduates, possibly with the help of public
debt-forgiveness programs; and special
efforts to reach out to diverse communities in staff
recruitment.
The full text of the report is available online at
www.jhu.edu/listeningpost/news.