Almost half of Charity Commission staff want to leave before three years

09 Dec 2010 News

A staff survey has revealed that only 55 per cent of Charity Commission staff would want to work at the organisation for "at least the next three years".

A staff survey has revealed that only 55 per cent of Charity Commission staff would want to work at the organisation for "at least the next three years".

As the Charity Commission faces cuts of 33 per cent from its budget and the organisation has advised that it will need to cut approximately 140 jobs, the results of the Autumn 2010 staff survey released yesterday show that morale was already low and that a number of staff have experienced bullying, harrassment or discrimination. 

With only 55 per cent of staff agreeing that they are proud to tell others they are part of the Commission, and 36 per cent agreeing that the Commission is a great place to work, the survey also showed that 14 per cent of staff have experienced some form of bullying or harrassment at work in the 12 months previous and 10 per cent felt they had experienced discrimination in the areas of pay, grade or responsibility level.

When asked their thoughts about working for the Commission, 55 per cent of respondents said they wanted to stay working for the Commission for "at least the next three years". But 23 per cent would only admit to wanting to stay at the Commission for "at least the next year", 13 per cent said they wanted to leave within the next 12 months and 8 per cent said they wanted to leave as soon as possible. 

Some 369 Commission staff members responded to the survey between 27 September 2010 and 13 October 2010. Measuring the levels of engagement and satisfaction in the workplace, the same survey has been completed by all civil service organisations as part of the Civil Service People Survey 2010. 

The Commission advised it will be conducting a full analysis of the results over the next few weeks. 

"At first glance it's clear there are areas in which the Commission can improve employee engagement, including leadership and managing change," said a spokesperson for the Commission. "We will also look closely at the results on discrimination, bullying and harassment, as we are concerned about the responses in these areas.

"But it is encouraging that there are areas in which staff members clearly think the Commission is doing increasingly well, notably team working and line management. We will take the results of this survey into account as part of the Commission's strategic review, which is currently underway."

View the full results of the survey here.