Supporting employees: winning the war for talent via employee value propositions

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For the second year running, NFP CEOs cited stronger organisational culture and employee engagement as the biggest benefit of upskilling programs (85%). At the same time, 62% of NFP CEOs say they are building employee engagement through open communication on skills of the future. This willingness to be open and transparent about the skills needed, will put NFPs in good stead with employees while future-proofing their operations. 

There is an opportunity for NFPs to position themselves to optimise the opportunities that the corporate sector’s focus on ESG is creating. The Atlassian and PwC Australia Return To Action study shows employee’s expectations of business to play their part in addressing a greater range of societal issues keeps growing. NFPs have a natural edge in this area and are well positioned to capitalise on it by offering a different experience through connecting with purpose. The building blocks are already in place to do this. Just over a third (34%) of NFP CEOs surveyed say they have made progress on developing a compelling employee value proposition to attract and retain staff. 

There is no room for complacency. Employee value propositions across all industry segments are being buffed and polished in response to the tight labour market. This means that staff contemplating their next career move will have more choice, both within the sector and outside it.

NFPs, like many organisations, are finding themselves in a war for talent for highly sought-after digital skills in a tight labour market, against private and public sector competitors with deeper pockets.

In this context, many resort to asking existing staff to “multi-hat” and take on additional responsibilities. Micro-credentials are an important mechanism to ensure the extra contribution these “multi-hatters” make is recognised and rewarded. Much more could be done in this area. Taking advantage of hybrid working models to broaden the size of the available talent pool will also be important.

The NFP sector has made steady progress on mental health and wellbeing programs to support staff in the constantly changing work environment over the last year. Heading into the pandemic many NFPs didn’t have Employee Assistance Programs. Now, an EAP is considered table stakes and 57% of NFPs surveyed have implemented mental health and wellbeing plans. 

Leaders can’t afford to lose focus in this area. Mental health and wellness emerged as the single most important issue for workers in the Return To Action report, with 69% of employees across all age groups and income levels saying they would turn down a promotion in favour of preserving their mental health.

NFPs are recognising the way in which diversity and inclusion enables business growth and the achievement of business priorities. We have seen a significant uplift in the number of NFPs implementing a diversity and inclusion strategy to attract a wide range of talent and ensure inclusiveness in how they work. Over half (57%) of NFPs surveyed are starting to make, or are making, moderate progress in this area, up 11% on last year.

Organisations which report that their upskilling programs are moderately or very effective in achieving a number of outcomes - greater organisational growth, higher workforce productivity, stronger organisational culture and employee engagement - are also more likely to report that they are moderately or very effective in implementing a D&I strategy. The same is true for organisations who say that they have made moderate or significant progress in developing a compelling employee proposition.

Looking at the aspects of workforce strategy that NFPs are investing in or changing, workplace culture and behaviours and shifts in leadership and structure rank second and third, and both are areas where Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbing play a key role. Important workplace culture and behaviours such as safety to speak up, belonging and empowerment dramatically improve the experiences of workplace inclusion. What’s more, inclusive leadership practices not only improve workplace culture, but also enable the benefits of diversity to be realised. Research shows that teams with inclusive leaders are 17% more likely to report that they are high performing, 20% more likely to say they make high-quality decisions, and 29% more likely to report behaving collaboratively.

NFPs have always had to be creative about how to attract talent but in honing their employee value proposition – which encompasses flexible working, D&I, health and well-being, recognition and reward, and future skills requirements - there is a real opportunity for them to capitalise on their for-purpose pedigree.