Almost 50% of NGOs have no talent management strategy, reveals Esade-PwC survey
Despite care for persons, career development and team empowerment being crucial for talent management in the third sector, just 47% of NGOs have no strategy for delivering employment guidance to their employees. This is one of the findings of the report ‘Desarrollo de talento y transformación cultural en las ONG’ (Talent development and cultural change in NGOs), produced by the Esade Social Innovation Institute and the PwC foundation, which highlights the importance of personal development and the ability to attract outside talent.
This survey of 401 managers and people in Spain’s third sector reveals that 71% of NGOs have no system for pinpointing in-house talent or possible promotions. One issue that these organizations have yet to address concerns encouraging a learning culture and driving in-house promotion in order to advance their employees: 38% consider that ensuring an in-house culture of on-going learning and career development is a priority in the world of employment. Consequently, 75% say it is essential to work proactively on the sense of purpose and motivation from the viewpoint of people management.
The report reveals that NGOs should have a talent management strategy in order to define how to attract, involve, retain and develop talent and ensure that performance steadily improves. According to Ignasi Carreras, director of the Esade-PwC NGO Leadership program, “Team leaders must give their teams opportunities to develop their careers, acknowledge their contribution and take their own needs into account, whilst ensuring that they tally with the organization’s mission and priorities.
Technology: a key ally
Technological advances such as automation and AI are impacting the workplace significantly. As machines begin to do different tasks, some jobs are expected to change considerably or even disappear. The challenge lies in pinpointing people’s skills and determining their competitive edge.
Against this backdrop, the report shows that technology plays a crucial role in talent management. However, 47% of NGOs have only very limited or none of the technology and knowledge necessary to improve how they attract, recruit and develop talent. Meanwhile, teams’ purpose and alignment with the values of their organization are factors that are developed more in this sector (61%).
Financial considerations: an important variable
Talent retention is crucial for any organization, including those in the third sector, so it is important to address certain areas such as having a structure for attractive remuneration and compensation.
According to this report by the Esade Institute of Social Innovation and the PwC Foundation, financial remuneration is one aspect that interviewees were the most dissatisfied with, behind only their workload. Just 16% are completely satisfied, whilst 39% are rather or completely dissatisfied. In addition, 54% of those surveyed say that third-sector entities cannot offer wages and compensation that are competitive in the job market, and feel that there is little transparency regarding remuneration in the sector (47%).
When asked about the most important factors when choosing a job, 94% of respondents said that what mattered most was the meaning and purpose of the job. Most agreed about the importance of flextime (84%) and the measures designed to ensure wellbeing (80%) when choosing a job, whilst more than half regarded remuneration as an important factor when job hunting (65%).
Match with the organization’s culture
In a landscape of constant change featuring a variety of different values and principles such as feminism and diversity, third-sector entities must pay particular importance to incorporating these factors into their organization’s culture. Hence NGOs must incorporate into their organizational culture a mission and certain values and strategic aims in keeping with today’s new era and, in doing so, pave the way for cultural change: the realignment of these factors.
Most respondents feel it is essential to incorporate different disruptive principles into the organizational culture of the third sector in order to move towards truly inclusive cultures. As the surveys reveals, 82% of teams feel that encouraging the participation of the groups they work with is a very or hugely important factor in driving change in the organization, whereas 76% highlight diversity as the key to change.
