Non-Profit Work Culture Trends This Year

White arrow on black road, pointing up.

Next month, I’m doing a workshop on Curbing Non-Profit Turnover Through Community Care. Non-profits in the San Francisco Bay Area are struggling to hang on to their best employees as they compete for highly qualified candidates against the higher salaries that tech and other large corporations can pay. Open positions are staying open for longer, and organizations find themselves having to use recruiting agencies for the first time. One of the ways that your non-profit can curb turnover is by shifting towards a healthier work culture. Here are three top culture trends to watch out for this year:

1. Flexibility. A flexible work environment is one of the most desired and asked-for benefits of a job (sometimes even more than salary). Increasingly, people are working from home or co-working spaces. While direct service non-profits may not be able to adapt to remote working completely, there will be requests for flexibility. If your organization is still asking everyone to come into the physical office everyday (especially if some tasks can be done remotely), you may want to rethink instituting a work from home policy and/or allowing for some flexibility in work hours.

2. Work/Life Harmony. As of this year, Gen Z (those born between 1996 — 2010) will make up approximately 40% of the workforce. They’re not asking for work-life balance. Instead, they’re demanding work-life harmony. They know that there will be times when work will take up more of their week, and they’re willing to chip in. But they also want to live a healthier lifestyle. They’re care about the world a lot, but have realized early on that martyrdom in non-profits is not sexy and actually affects non-profits negatively in the long run. 

3. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Given the political climate and recent events, staff and job candidates are beginning to look into an organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Are there opportunities for people of color? Does the culture actually embed these principles into the fabric of their culture or is it just talk? How does the leadership (board and staff) reflect the communities that they serve? 

Shifting an organization's culture takes hard work, buy-in from the Executive Director and Board of Directors, and real action (not just signing a pledge or hiring a Diversity & Inclusion Officer). Organizations that have embraced these trends find that they’re better able to maintain staff while not having to sacrifice quality of services.