Why do people in the charity sector seem nice that those who work for local government?

[ArtfulTurtle]

After a really difficult experience working in local government, I took some time off and started a new job in the charity sector last year. So far, the difference in workplace culture is staggering. People seem genuinely kinder, more supportive, and less cutthroat?

A friend thinks I probably won’t experience what I did in local government now that I’m in this sector. But why is that? Is it the type of people charity work attracts? Less bureaucracy? Fewer power hungry managers?

I know no workplace is perfect and it’s still early days, but it’s making me wonder, are people in the charity sector actually nicer or have I just landed in a good workplace?

Has anyone here worked in both sectors and noticed a difference? Or have I just been lucky?

I think you’ve found a good one. Some charity work environments are vile and expect staff to tolerate that and just get a warm fuzzy feeling from working for a worthy cause

As someone who works in the charity sector, after working in business, I've found the opposite. Everyone seemed lovely enough to start with but the bitchiness and backstabbing is unreal.

Not my experience. I worked in HR for a very well known charity. The casework left no doubt in my mind about how awful the culture and many of my colleagues were. Left to work in the public sector. Everyone is so much nicer.

Can’t blanket judgement really from 2 work places. That’s my experience.

I’ve worked in a good few charities of different sizes over the years. It’s a mixed bag. Worked for a large national charity that was an awful dynamic and terrible for staff. Now at a similarly large (by income and staff) charity which is just wonderful. Direction from Chief Exec and exec directors is so important in culture. Glad you’re somewhere positive! It can be a wonderful place to work when it’s right

It's not about the sector, it's about the workplace.

I've worked in local government, charity, education and health roles. They can all be absolutely toxic but, find the right team and they can all be focused on the core activity and simultaneously lovely people.

I've worked for a couple of charities, and moved to local government. The charities were way worse in terms of hierarchy, bullying and back stabbing, made worse by them not having a proper grievance procedure, or a dignity at work procedure or a proper sickness procedure. One charity felt very 'cult like'.

Local government has all of the above procedures, and more. Granted, there are appalling managers (and staff members) in local government but there are twats in all walks of life!

I’ve worked for charities which were rife with bullying and just a toxic workplace- friends have had similar experiences as well

DD works for a medium sized charity and the work environment and her colleagues are lovely and make up for the poor pay. She earnt a lot more in a different industry that was quite glamorous but would never go back.

Any not for profit I've worked for, the culture has been that it's seen as distasteful to aim for a high salary in life when you're usually dealing with people who have very little.

So usually it attracts people who are willing to forgo a chance at personal success to help others. I love working for charities!

It depends very much on the department or team. When I worked in local government, my department was really nice, but I knew of another which was clearly toxic. Allegations of bullying were rife for years and staff turnover was very high. My friend did one agency shift in this department and never went back!

I think there's a lot of stress within the charity sector, possibly due to the constant begging for money and not knowing whether funds will be available next year.

I deal with quite a few organisations within the charity sector due to my role within a public sector provider of funds to charities and the people we deal with are always pleasant. However, there's a very high turnover of staff so who knows what's going on within the organisation.

It's like any workplace, the culture is defined by the management. It's not a difference between charity and public sector, it's the individual organisation/department/team. Distrust, overwork and bullying are destructive in any type of organisation and preventing them is the responsibility of the management.

It filters from the top down. If the person at the top doesn't care about staff wellbeing, this will filter down through the layers of management. You can blame individual managers for not being good at their job but that's a symptom of the root cause, the person at the very top.

Employers get the staff they deserve.

Civil service jobs are the best. Even when there is bullying there is a clear path of complaining, clear progression path, more pay transparency,more flexibility for parents, better pensions and union.
Charities have a lot of guilt tripping, working for free and poor resources/training. The nice ones in charities are the volunteers, often those are people retired or reasonably well off to volunteer excited about making a difference or naive juniors thinking they will change the world with enthusiasm.

You've found a good employer, that's all. Just because it's good, doesn't mean all charities are!

DH used to be a contractor, and the worst contract (by a million miles) was with a charity.

The charity I worked for were vile bullies - very good at portraying themselves as saints to the outside world though.

I now work for a lovely local authority. It's not perfect but there are tons of checks and balances in place and I no longer feel unsafe.

I'm a freelancer and I will take work in any industry sector except 3: tobacco, gambling and charity. In my minimal but varied experience of working with charity partners the culture and the competence level are poor. The charity sector seems to attract employees (not all) who are ill equipped to deal with pace, urgency or conflict.

Yes I've worked for both a council and a charity.
Some of the people who worked at the council were awful with bullying behaviour and very aware of their grade looking down on others. Not very polite either I found though not everyone of course. A lot were really miserable too and didn't even say good morning when you walked in.

When I moved jobs it was amazing at the charity - so respectful and you were listened to whatever grade you happened to be. All in it together mentality.
In general, nicer people!

While I agree with others that there's much more variety to it than one sector being nice and another nasty, I do think that you're either a big organisation person or you're a small one. They have different pros and not many people are equally happy in both.

Ooh OP. Youre going to get inundated with responses bashing the third sector now for laziness, self righteous incompetence, feathering their own nests at the expence of donors, service users and volunteers! I've worked in the sector my whole career and am bracing myself already! There are some wrong 'uns like you find everywhere. But on the whole you tend to find people who are attracted to work that is comparatively poorly paid and where the satisfaction comes more from service to others rather than personal gain, tend to be a type. And it tends to be a type where they're heavy on the empathy and helpfulness.