Decent Work for Nonprofit Sector Workers and Employers October 2018

Transcription

1 Decent Work for Nonprofit Sector Workers and Employers October 2018 This October, the world celebrates the landmark United Nations standard for Decent Work. From the United Nations ILO website, Decent Work is defined as: Work opportunities that are productive, provide fair income, security in the workplace and social protection (employment insurance, social programs), better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all. (United Nations International Labor Organization, 2018). On an annual basis, unions and progressive public policy advocates rally throughout our province in support of these factors that define Decent Work. However, in recent years, employers in the nonprofit sector, like the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) and the Ottawa Art Gallery, have joined the celebration to champion quality employment. This is because Decent Work has become a mutual concern for both workers and employers. Today s unbalanced employment relationship: Reforms made by successive Liberal and Conservative governments have prioritized cheap exploitable labour over harmony between workers and employers. As a result, workers have lost their voices in their workplaces, their job security, and their fair compensation for an honest day s work. Over the last thirty years, the losses suffered by working people in our province have made it increasingly difficult for workers and employers to co-establish mutually beneficial and productive working conditions. Workers have lost their voice in the workplace. From 1981 to 2012, Canada s unionization rates declined from 38% to 28.8% with the private sector suffering the greatest overall decline between 1981 and 2008 falling from 29.8% to 16.1% (Camfield, 2011, p. 77). In the NFP sector, unionization rates today stand below average at only 14% (Edwardh & Clutterbuck, 2015). Once a strong voice for workers interests in the workplace, the voice of employees has been increasingly silent with declining rates of unionization. Studies show that both employers and employees suffer productivity and profitability losses when on-the-job input from workers is silenced (Xiaowen & Jiang, 2016). Workers have lost their job security. Ontario academics Judy Fudge and Leah Vosko have shown us how non-standard employment relationships (NSERs) traditionally endured by women (part-time, contract, and temporary work) have replaced the standard employment relationship (SER) traditionally enjoyed by male breadwinners (full-time employment) (Fudge & Vosko, 2001). This claim has become consensus as recent studies consistently report that non-standard and unstable employment now define our labour landscape (Tiessen, 2014; Gellalty, 2015; Zeytinoglu, Chowhan, Cooke, & Mann, 2016). This trend towards unstable (or precarious) employment are concerning since non-standard employment relationships have been shown to harm both workers and employers. In a study published by Wayne Lewchuk of McMaster University, high levels of stress and health issues reported by the majority of workers in precarious employment indicate a worrying trend that points to higher levels of stress-related ill-health for workers (Lewchuk, Clarke, De Wolff, & King, 2007, p. 311). Another study shows that labour flexibility strategies of reducing labour costs (using more part-time or temporary workers) fails to add any profitability or productivity nor any positive change in net operating revenue.

2 In fact, the use of part-time or temporary workers decreases profitability and productivity (Zeytinoglu, Chowhan, Cooke, & Mann, 2016; Cooke, Chowhan, & Brown, 2011). Since these effects are contrary to the conventional wisdom it is an incredibly common and costly mistake for both employers and workers. Loss of job security is especially concerning in the NFP sector. The 300,000 employees staffing the sector are more educated and experienced than their for-profit counterparts, yet they are more likely to be contractually or part-time employed. Nearly one quarter of nonprofit employees work on a parttime basis twice the rate observed in the for-profit sector. The NFP sector also employs temporary workers (14 percent) at nearly double the rate of the for-profit sector (8 percent) (Fanelli, Rudman, & Aldrich, 2017, p. 336). These figures would be troublesome enough on their own without adding that women constitute more than three-quarters (84.8% in 2006) of the Ontario NFP workforce making it fair to claim that job-security and wages in the NFP-sector are below-average because it is considered women s work (Ontario Nonprofit Network, 2018). Workers have lost their income security. It has been shown that the recent shift towards part-time, contract, and temporary work has negatively impacted the wages earned by Ontario workers. For instance, 21.8% of part-time workers earn minimum wages compared to only 3.4% of full-time workers (Mitchell & Murray, 2016). The decreased earnings potential of NSER jobs is also confirmed in another study that finds part-time workers make 40% less - and temporary workers make 30% less - per hour, when compared to the average hourly wages of full-time Ontario workers (Gellalty, 2015). This is significant as one-in-five Ontario workers are now employed part-time. The recent minimum wage bump will help those workers earning minimum wages, but a lack of benefits and retirement plans for workers in non-standard employment relationships means their total compensation plans amount to far less than that of full-time employees. The overall dissatisfaction Ontario employees have with their wages, their non-standard employment relationships, and their general performance recognition cause significant employer difficulties in recruitment, performance management, and retention (Dessler & Chhinzer, 2017, p. 251; Herzberg, 1987). These costly management issues are surely impacting the NFP sector given that its employees work with fewer health benefits, lower pay, and higher caseloads than for-profit employees. (Fanelli, Rudman, & Aldrich, 2017, p. 336). In the 21 st century, if an NFP employer wants to effectively differentiate themselves and safeguard firm performance, the UN Decent Work standard offers a platform for developing a quality workplace. The Decent Work solution: Advancing Decent Work requires leadership and planning. One report recommends NFP leaders start by creating awareness and promoting different choices that organizations, networks, governments and funders can make to ensure the lives of individuals are more secure and stable and help organizations be more resilient and effective (The Mowat Centre's Not-for-profit Research Hub, 2015). Leveraging the strength of your professional network is also important to assimilate the information and resources required to design policy proposals that fit your organization and sustainably advance Decent Work tenets. Furthermore, including your stakeholders employees, customers, and board members in discussions about Decent Work will ensure your organization begins with changes that maximize organizational gains. After all, no organization should invest in changes that nobody wants or needs. This incremental approach to creating a Decent Work workplace may find detractors who want more radical or revolutionary change but it is a safe path forward for resource constrained organizations

3 that want to protect their public service mandate. Big changes done quickly can suffer from strategic or procedural errors that can disrupt service provision. In any case, it is best to implement a wellresearched strategy methodically with plenty of time to review key performance indicators and course correct as needed. In the end, both employers and employees need to rebalance the employment relationship in Ontario so that workplaces in all sectors including the NFP sector can become highly productive employers of choice in the Canadian economy. Ryan Johnston is a human resource and labour relations strategist and a 2018 MBA graduate from Wilfrid Laurier s Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. In 2017, he completed a Masters in Work and Society from McMaster University and the DeGroote School of Business. His research has focused on contemporary issues in strategic human resource management, organizational leadership/governance, employee voice systems, and Anglo-American labour relations history. Ryan has professional experience managing unionized workforces and has enjoyed a successful account management career (5+ years). This written work was carried out as part of Laurier s MBA programming and done in support of PIN s mandate to advance the local NFP-sector. For further information, Ryan Johnston can be reached through or his LinkedIN profile (rjsignsup@gmail.com and

4 References Brownwell, C. (2017, September 13). Canadian median income growth sluggish over past 10 years, Statscan figures show. Financial Post. Camfield, D. (2011). Canadian Labour in Crisis. Halifax: Fernwood. Cooke, G., Chowhan, J., & Brown, T. (2011). Declining versus participating in employer-supported training in Canada. International Journal of Training and Development, Dessler, G., & Chhinzer, N. (2017). Human Resources Management in Canada. Toronto: Pearson Publishing. Edwardh, J., & Clutterbuck, P. (2015). Decent Work in the Non-Profit Community Services Sector in Ontario: Submission to the Changing Workplaces Review Special Advisors. Toronto: Social Planning Network of Ontario. Fanelli, C., Rudman, D., & Aldrich, R. (2017). Precarity in the nonprofit employment services sector. Canadian Revue of Sociology, Fudge, J., & Vosko, L. F. (2001). By Whose Standards? Reregulating the Canadian Labour Market. Economic and Industrial Democracy, Gellalty, M. (2015). Still Working on the Edge: Building Decent Jobs From the Ground Up. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Herzberg, F. (1987). One more time: how do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, Lewchuk, W., Clarke, M., De Wolff, A., & King, A. (2007). This just isn't sustainable : Precarious employment, stress and workers' health. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Maier, F., Meyer, M., & Steinbereithner, M. (2016). Nonprofit organizations becoming business-like: a systemic review. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Minksy, A. (2017, June 15). Average hourly wages in Canada have barely budged in 40 years. Global News. Mitchell, M., & Murray, J. C. (2016). Changing Workplaces Review: Special Advisors Interim Report. Ontario Ministry of Labour. Ontario Nonprofit Network. (2018). Decent work for women: a literature review of women working in Ontario's nonprofit sector. Toronto: Ontario Nonprofit Network. Shantz, A., Alfes, K., & Truss, C. (2012). Alienation from work: Marxist ideologies and twenty-firstcentury practice. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, The Mowat Centre's Not-for-profit Research Hub. (2015). Change work: valuing decent work for the notfor-profit sector. Toronto: Mowat NFP. Tiessen, K. (2014). Seismic Shift: Ontario s Changing Labour Market. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

5 United Nations International Labor Organization. (2018, September 04). Decent Work. Retrieved from International Labor Organization: United Nations International Labour Organization. (2018, August 6). Decent Work. Retrieved from International Labour Organization: en/index.htm Xiaowen, H., & Jiang, Z. (2016). Employee-oriented HRM and voice behaviour: a moderated mediation model of moral identity and trust in management. International Journal of Human Resource Management, Zeytinoglu, I., Chowhan, J., Cooke, G., & Mann, S. (2016). An ill-informed choice: empirical evidence of the link between employers part-time or temporary employment strategies and workplace performance in Canada. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-25.