Workforce Survey 2014

Every two to three years NICVA conducts a survey which aims to provide a comprehensive overview of changing salaries and employment benefit trends in the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector in Northern Ireland.

The Workforce Survey is the only survey in Northern Ireland focused on our sector and provides important information that organisations can use as a bench mark for reviewing their salary structure, pension contributions and recruitment and retention methods. The job levels that have and will continue to be examined as part of this research include:

  • Chief executive
  • Director
  • Senior Function Head(s)
  • Functional Manager(s)
  • Specialist/Professional Staff
  • Clerical Supervisor/Training or Care Staff
  • Admin officers /Care officers
  • PA/Secretary
  • Junior/trainee staff

This Workforce Survey is being circulated to a sample of 3,300 VCSE organisations across Northern Ireland. If your organisation has not been selected however and you would like to take part in the research please contact me directly and I will include you in the survey. Participation from as many VCSE organisations as possible will be hugely valuable to the research.

The survey comprises of two parts. In the first instance organisations will be asked to complete an online survey which will ask a range of questions on areas including staff numbers, benefits, contracts, training, recruitment and retention and pensions. Once this has been completed organisations will receive an additional email containing a salary grid in excel format which can be emailed directly back to Andrea Thornbury.

All responses from organisations will be kept completely confidential.

NICVA appreciates that this is a busy time for many organisations but by taking the time to complete this survey you are contributing to providing important, practical information for organisations across our sector.

As a small token of our appreciation to organisations for sharing their information they will be entered into a draw for a year’s free NICVA membership. Key findings from the research will also be circulated to all contributors once the information has been analysed.

Previous workforce surveys can be viewed here.

Top ten key findings from Salary Survey 2012

  1. 75% of the staff in the sector were female.
  2. The majority of part time staff were female (87%)
  3. In 2012 females accounted for 53.4% of chief executives and 69.2% of directors.
  4. There was a reduction in permanent contracts issued (from 68.3% to 60.4%).
  5. In 2012 50% of organisations stated that their retention difficulties were a direct result of the economic climate.
  6. 54% of organisations reported that they had a training budget 51.2% of organisations offered flexible worked hours
  7. 62% of organisations did not award staff a salary increase.
  8. The average chief executive salary in 2012 was £40,000
  9. The average junior and/or trainee staff salary was £13,400
  10. The majority of organisations reported having a pay scale as a benchmark for staff salaries with most using the NJC pay scale.

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