Are you counting on your employees’ and volunteers’ commitment to helping animals to keep them engaged on the job? You might want to count again.
The Not-for-Profit Employee Engagement Report published by Quantum Workforce reports that employees working for non-profits appear to be less engaged than for-profit peers, having consistently lower engagement scores than the national average for the past three years.
“To us, it seems odd,” they write, “that almost 50 percent of employees at non-profits can be devoted to its cause but not necessarily to the organization itself.”
In the fall of 2012, Maddie’s InstituteSM conducted an online survey of executive directors, employees and volunteers from companion-animal care organizations across the country, seeking to assess overall levels of engagement among shelter employees, investigate what factors can increase engagement or disengagement, and provide resources to enable organizations to improve engagement.
Among surveyed shelters, an impressive 82 percent of employees and volunteers reported feeling connected to their organization’s mission.
However, only 64 percent believed that their organization’s written values, principles or mission, truly guided decision-making and operations.
If your organization is struggling with a disconnect between its mission statement and staff engagement, you need to not only clearly and consistently communicate core values, but live by them as well.
To make that happen at your shelter, start with this example set of core values and workplace culture agreement.
Want more information? You’ll find a summary of our survey results here, and can view or download a PDF of the entire survey report here.
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