Employee turnover in the nonprofit industry is at 20% and climbing. This presentation will help explain why, and give you 7 simple ways to reduce employee turnover in your agency.

1. 7 Simple Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
Why Are Nonprofits Losing Top Talent?

2. But the data from our 2016 Nonprofit Trends
Report another stat you just can’t ignore.
Employee turnover in in this same sector
is at 20% and climbing.
Hiring at US
nonprofits is at an
all time high. Great
news for all those
needing a job with
more purpose.

3. Instead of
celebrating the
expansion of
nonprofit influence
and impact across
the nation, we are
actually seeing
agencies burdened
by the constant need
to recruit, hire, train,
and then replace
staff and key
volunteers.
And this doesn’t
even take into
consideration the
impact on client
services when you
have unfilled
positions. Remember
how much “fun” it
was the last time you
had a key spot to fill
on your team?

4. While a little employee turnover every year
is acceptable and even healthy for an
organization, if you are seeing 15% or more
year after year, something is wrong.
According to a survey by Nonprofit HR in
2015, nonprofit turnover has increased from
16% in 2013 to 19% in 2014.
Staff and key volunteer turnover is the highest
non-cash expense any organization incurs.

5. Take a minute and count up the number of hours it took
you and others to identify, recruit, train, and then
deploy your most recent new key hire.
Now, multiply that number by your average hourly
compensation factor representing the average salary
costs to the agency. That’s some number, isn’t it?

6. Now, multiply that cost by the number of new hires
last year. Pretty shocking isn’t it, and that doesn’t
take into account the non-cash disruption to your
operation — as a result of being short of staff
while recruiting a replacement — or the
disruption as the new hire learns your operations.

7. What you can
do to cut down
on costly key
volunteer and
staff turnover?

8. Realize that nonprofit staff and
volunteers are motivated differently
than most business people.
For them, it’s not about the money or prestige.
Instead, they have a passion for your mission and
want to help you achieve it. Are you giving them
ample opportunity to do meaningful work that
addresses that passion so they feel they are
actual making a difference?
7 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
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9. Acknowledge the gap between for-profit
and nonprofit pay scales.
Since compensation in nonprofits is usually lower
than in the business world, what can you do to
bridge or negate that compensation gap
stigma? Can you provide personal and professional
development opportunities for key staff and
volunteers? This might help them value their
participation in your agency more widely than just
by compensation. Training, conferences,
workshops, and individual personal growth
coaching can help people feel they are being well
compensated above and beyond salary, etc.
7 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
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10. Fine-tune your hiring process and
focus on high-quality candidates.
Are you being selective in the hiring process or are
you just looking for warm bodies to fill open slots,
hoping and trusting that they will work out? In
addition to your stated Mission and Vision, do you
look for candidates who agree with your agency’s
values? A bad match here can be as harmful and as
anything else. Review your hiring practices to
insure you are screening out applicants who do not
match the job description and its “Desirable
Qualifications”.
7 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
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11. Get feedback from those that
leave before they leave.
Do you (or someone else in your organization)
conduct exit interviews with departing staff and
volunteers to learn why they decided to leave? If
so, do any patterns emerge? Compensation levels,
poor working conditions, excessive workload,
safety issues, lack of respect, etc. can all lead to an
employee leaving. If you see reasons repeated
among individuals, how can you address these
patterns? If you’re not conducting exit interviews,
could you start to collect feedback from employees
who are leaving?
7 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
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12. Create better job descriptions.
Do your job descriptions and job postings
accurately describe the duties the applicant is
expected to perform? And beyond the actual
job requirements, do you paint a picture of the
culture of your nonprofit? Do you make it clear
the type of individual that would fit well into
your organization? What characteristics would
best fit your agency?
7 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
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13. Get feedback after they leave.
Consider contacting former staffers 6 months
after they leave to get feedback. Ask them
how to make serving at your agency more
appealing and how to reduce turnover. They
may have some great ideas and will feel more
comfortable to speak freely now that they
have moved on.
7 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
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14. Build a team and process for vetting.
Rather than conducting just 1-2 interviews with
new hire or volunteer candidates, consider using a
multi-interview process for applicants. Consider
having 2-3 staff members interview an applicant
one at a time and then have a panel interview with
2-4 other people. This may be overkill for some
positions, but for filling key positions in your
agency I think it is well worth your efforts.
7 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
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15. Excessive turnover is often linked to a
weak or ineffective hiring process. While
other factors may play a role, focusing your
efforts first on this area will likely lead to
the most significant change in the least
amount of time.
Why Are Nonprofits Losing Top Talent?

16. Learn more about the critical challenges facing
nonprofits today.
Download your copy of the 2016 Nonprofit Trends Report

17. Does your new board have what it takes
to push your nonprofit to the next level?
Find out, with the Break Through quiz.

18. This presentation is
TomOkarma.com
Learn more about reducing turnover in your
agency and download free nonprofit
resources at: