Worst staff turnover I have ever seen...no action from management.

[Startingagainandagain]

I have worked for a small charity (about 50 employees) for almost 2 years and the staff turnover during that period has been unbelievable.

In the past few months it seems to have accelerated even more: 'old timers' who seemed to enjoy their job are leaving too and newcomers who start jobs leave after a few months or 'disappear' without even serving a notice. There isn't one week when someone does not announce they are off...

The staff turnover means a lot of money is wasted on agency staff for roles like reception for example and having to do endless inductions with new people.

What frustrates me is that senior management seems oblivious to the issue and is doing nothing to address it. I assume that poor senior management is one of the reason why so many people are voting with their feet.

I am job hunting as well but this is really starting to demoralise me in a big way and I have lost all faith in this charity so I find it hard to motivate myself when working...

Just wanted to rant really and wonder if other people have worked for organisations where this was happening.

You don't say why they are leaving or why you are looking

Sounds horribly mismanaged

What is the charity name so people can avoid donating to it.

I don't get the impression that many charities are well run, tbh.

Yes I have worked for orgs like this.

You can't fix them.

The first time I came across it I tried. It's not worth it.

Yes,I know someone who works for a charity where this exact thing has happened. A new manager was employed,and since then,long standing employees of 25+ years have left,new people start and don't come back,and it is all down to the manager. The directors are aware of the problem and who is causing it,but don't want to seem to do anything about it. Other departments in the same charity still have their original staff from when it started 25+ years ago,so it does stand out. HR have been told that this person is causing issues,but nothing is done. No one wants to rock the boat.

'@blueberrycherubandbump

You don't say why they are leaving or why you are looking'

It is happening in every team across the organisation so I don't think there is a common reason and people never really say why the are leaving (probably thinking about references...).

I assume it is a combination of poor management, salaries that are no longer competitive and workloads being too high.

The point is I have worked for many charities over 20 years and they all tend to operate with restricted budgets and not being able to always recruit as many people as they would like to do the jobs needed, but I genuinely have never ever seen a charity lose so many staff members...

I am job hunting because I really don't like the people in my team, the environment is full of backstabbing and politics. The job was also misrepresented at the interview stage (initially told I could work from home the majority of the time as I live 2.5 hour away each way and I am disabled, but then they tried to force me to come in once a week just to 'show my face').

In the end it is probably a toxic place all around but you would think that senior management would wake up to the fact that they are currently wasting a lot of money on agency staff and recruitment and try to do something about their staff turnover...I am rather certain that the people donating to the charity really don't want to see their money wasted in this way.

Yes I have worked for organisations like this.

My best piece of advice is you need to stop caring. You need to clock in, collect the cheque, and clock out. If people are sniping, arguing, begrudging… act oblivious.

You can wonder ‘why’ they run it this way and why they won’t take action until the cows come home. It won’t change. And you don’t get paid to worry about it. It’s no skin off your nose that they are wasting money on agency staff and have a high turnover. You ruminating on it won’t change it. Do your tasks at a reasonable speed and keep applying for other jobs.

This is the nature of working for a charity I'm afraid. Get as much out of people as they can without paying them very much (apart from SLT of course).

Which sector are you in?

I work for a larger Charity.
There’s a high staff turnover, culture of repeatedly appointing people to Manager jobs who are mates with the CEO, but can’t actually do the job. No interviews …

I've worked in the third sector for decades and it's never well managed. There is often bullying which isn't challenged, either because management are bullies or they're ineffectual.

Pay is low and people are overworked. Communication is often poor as is line management. There is often burnout if you work in an emotionally taxing sector and staff can be very judgemental towards beneficiaries.