This year’s 3rd Annual Not-for-profit CEO Survey explores two themes faced by the NFP sectors in Australia and New Zealand: skills shortages and delivering in a digital world.
With unemployment in both countries at record lows and fresh talent not readily available from overseas, there is a fundamental mismatch between open roles and the skilled jobseekers needed to fill them.
As cost pressures on wages and inflation take effect, keeping people who may need to take higher paying jobs outside the sector is a real concern.
Skills and people
Upskilling remains a top priority for NFPs and over the past three years eighty percent of CEOs have found that digital training programs deliver stronger organisational culture and employee engagement. Additionally, the majority (58 percent) say it is proving an effective talent acquisition and retention tool. This is significant, as 75 percent of NFP CEOs believe that the skills shortage is impacting their organisation.
Seventy-seven percent of NFPs have provided upskilling and training to help the workforce adapt to new technology, a finding consistent over the last three years. What has become evident, however, is that small NFPs (with annual revenue under AU$500,000) are significantly disadvantaged in this area compared to larger organisations with annual revenue over AU$3 million. More than half of respondents from small NFPs reported that no skills or training were provided over the last twelve months, compared to 88 percent of their larger counterparts who did provide training.
