Nonprofits need modern HR solutions to retain and grow Gen Z talent
At the heart of all nonprofits is a dedicated workforce that carries out the vital tasks that drive your mission. Put simply, a nonprofit is heavily reliant on its employees and volunteers for delivering impact. However, how you support and engage your most vital resource – people – is key to success as your people are often your highest cost.
But in this rapidly evolving digital landscape, keeping your workforce engaged, empowered, and equipped with the right digital tools has never been more crucial.
As those in the baby boomer generation begin to exit the workforce, those in Gen X, Millennials, and particularly Gen Z, have much higher digital expectations.
In this blog, we will explore how Unit4’s range of solutions can help you empower, retain, and grow a digitally enabled workforce while providing a satisfying employee experience.
What does modern talent want?
HR leaders should note that in the post-pandemic era, much of the modern talent out there has different expectations and needs than before, and older employee experience models are no longer effective.
A Unit4 study completed post-pandemic reflects the wants and needs of this new workforce:
- 92% of respondents state their organization has now adopted flexible working policies
- Yet, 62% agree that their current tools are insufficient to support flexible working.
- While 62% also report that attracting and retaining talent is the biggest priority, 39% of organizations also report seeing employees leave for more flexible arrangements.
This shows that many employees want flexible working conditions and will leave an organization to find them. Equally, while organizations may provide flexible working policies, they must ensure they support these mandates with digital solutions to empower a digitally enabled workforce.
While many employees want a flexible working experience this can affect engagement rates, a recent UNLEASH report finds that over 50% of employees remain disengaged, while only 25% of HR and business leaders feel sure that line managers have the right tools to enhance employee experience.
How to enable hybrid working
Modern talent now expects hybrid working conditions, and the first step to meeting this is by having the digital groundwork to enable such an experience.
Both remote and in-office staff need to be able to access documents digitally and simultaneously to avoid issues with version history. Similarly, data must be updated 24/7 so employees can work with a single source of truth that is always up to date.
Legacy systems like Excel are not made for the world of hybrid or remote working, whereas a Cloud ERP system can enable those in hybrid working conditions to collaborate seamlessly without the practical issues of legacy systems.
When an employee or volunteer with hybrid or remote working conditions is empowered with digital tools to do their work without obstacles, they are much more likely to stay with an organization for longer.
Click to read Helping nonprofits deliver on their mission with FP&A and HCM Gated
The role of data
UNLEASH’s report also finds that people managers play a key role in the employee experience, but that they too must be empowered with data insight to continually enhance the employee experience.
The report found that 69% of organizations say line managers play either an ‘integral’ or ‘make or break’ role in developing a positive employee experience, but 65% say their managers are either not given the data at the right time to inform key decisions, or they don’t have access to a full range of insights.
In practice, if a manager and an employee both have a clear understanding of an employee’s performance data and HR documents they have more transparent conversations about pay, performance, and working conditions.
Similarly, when HR conversations are driven by performance data, HR can collaborate with other key functions like Finance to understand how to utilize employees and ensure they are being used where they are most valued and satisfied.
Transforming HR with a data-driven culture
Nonprofits must ensure their employees feel valued and heard within their organization, and that a continuous feedback loop ensures HR processes aren’t just box-ticking exercises but help drive value in the employee experience.
Cloud HCM breathes new life into common HR processes, providing a space for employees and managers to have two-way conversations about performance, for employees to raise feedback, and for managers to create action based on feedback – a vital feedback loop that drives belief in HR processes for the employee.
Unit4 Nonprofit Explainer Video 1 - Retain and grow a digitally empowered workforce from Unit4 Video on Vimeo.
How Unit4 can help retain and grow talent
In this rapidly evolving digital landscape, keeping your workforce engaged, empowered, and equipped with the right digital tools has never been more crucial for nonprofit organizations.
At Unit4, our integrated ERP suite can help you optimize your operations and empower your workforce. With our ERP you can streamline operational processes, track income funding, and project expenditure, manage resources, and monitor project impact more efficiently than ever before.
Unit4’s HCM and Talent Management solutions provide a single source of truth for your entire employee experience helping you collect employee data, improve engagement, accommodate different working environments, and empower teams with development tools.
Unit4’s Talent Management module also helps with professional development, including skills training and goal-oriented performance management. It’s easy to assign objectives and goals to develop new skills and search the learning catalog for training or certifications to upskill faster.
When integrated with FP&A, our Workforce Planning and Analysis solution identifies the best-suited employees per project, recording performance to provide a solid foundation for future planning.
To learn more about how Unit4 can deliver nonprofit-specific capabilities in your organization talk to sales today!
