More than half of charities are struggling to fill staff vacancies, new research has found.
Analysis by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that 53 per cent of charities were trying to find staff for “hard-to-fill vacancies”.
This was a higher proportion than all sectors apart from education and transport providers, and above the average for the whole economy of 47 per cent.
The data, which is based on a survey of 2,000 employers across all sectors, is included in CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook report for summer 2022, which was published today.
Separate research has shown that staffing challenges are especially acute at social care charities, with one reporting that employee turnover hit 41 per cent last year.
The CIPD also found that 7 per cent of charities said they were planning to make staff redundant in the next three months, a lower proportion than in the private sector (13 per cent) or among public bodies (12 per cent).
The survey shows that the average employee at the average charity, measured as a median, can expect a 3 per cent rise in basic pay this year. Inflation is expected to reach at least 10 per cent in the next year, according to independent forecasts.
The rise is 1 percentage point lower than the private sector and 1 point higher than the public sector, although CIPD cautions that pay growth is likely to be higher once bonuses and other factors are included.
The report says that, across the economy as a whole, employers are focusing more on training their existing staff and making roles more flexible than on hiring new workers.
It says “retention is as important as recruitment”, and goes on to say: “While official statistics now put the redundancy rate at a record low, this report suggests redundancies will stay low in the following quarter.
“Whether by holding on to staff or training them, employers are alleviating skills shortages by focusing on their existing workforce.”
Jon Boys, labour market economist at the CIPD, said: “The voluntary sector has a high incidence of hard-to-fill vacancies. This could be caused by the difficulty in competing with the private sector for talent, especially as private sector pay awards are expected to be a bit higher.
“To tackle this, employers in the voluntary sector could focus on the other benefits of working in the sector, such as working for a social purpose. A focus on job quality, including flexibility, can also be provided at little cost to the business.”
CIPD commissioned the polling company YouGov to survey 166 charities, 361 public sector employers and 1,473 private firms in June and July.
The body said the research had been weighted to be representative of UK employment by organisation size and sector.