Nearly half of charity staff plan to look for a new employer in the next year, Third Sector Jobs has found.
The Third Sector Career Insights 2023 report, which surveyed 318 charity employees, found that 46 per cent of respondents were planning to look for a new employer in the next 12 months.
But only 4 per cent said that they planned to leave the sector in the coming year.
It found that salaries have become increasingly important to employees in the voluntary sector due to the cost-of-living crisis and inflation rates, with more respondents saying these had given them higher salary expectations.
Chantal Malin, head of resourcing and talent at the housing and homelessness charity Shelter, said: “Rather than it being all about fighting for the cause of the charity, people are having to make more decisions based on remuneration.”
Of those surveyed, only 6 per cent said they saw a salary decrease in the past year. The most common increase was between 5 and 6 per cent, reported by 32 per cent of respondents, well below the record-high inflation levels seen over the past year.
Directors saw the largest pay increases, with the median annual salary rise of directors being recorded at 10 per cent across the last two years. Others saw increases between 4.6 and 6.6 per cent.
Emily Burt, editor of Third Sector, said: “It suggests that remuneration is not being stacked in favour of those most vulnerable, with lower salaries.”
Survey respondents were also asked to rank 17 employee benefits in order of importance. The results showed that the most sought-after benefit was flexible working hours, with 94 per cent of respondents ranking this as either very or quite important.
The ability to work from home was second highest, ranked as important to 89 per cent of employees asked, followed by above statutory pension contributions, which was important to 88 per cent of respondents.
But the majority of respondents wanted some time in the office, with 39 per cent saying they would prefer to work remotely most of the time with some in-office hours. Some 32 per cent said they would prefer a half and half split.
The survey also asked about attitudes towards diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace.
The majority of respondents said their organisation placed a lot of importance on diversity, but more than one third reported their organisation was either indifferent to DEI or not committed to building an inclusive talent pool.
When asked whether their organisation felt diverse, just more than half of respondents described it as quite diverse, but 27 per cent said it did not.
Diversity at senior level was perceived to be lower than the overall workforce, with 56 per cent of respondents saying that there was not a breadth of diverse representation at this level.
To access the report, click here.