Why Participating in the 2019 National Pay and Benefits Survey will Benefit Your Organisation

Posted on
4 Apr 2019
by Quality Matters

Its time again! The fourth National Pay and Benefits Survey for community, voluntary and charitable organisations has been launched.  If you haven’t used this fantastic resource to see how your organistions pay and benefits compare with the wider community and voluntary sector, then you will be delighted to read the report and see how much data there is available on exactly how our sector is managing this challenging issue.

Below are a number of ways that this research is valuable and useful for Ireland’s non-profit sector. Here are five reasons why your organisations should complete the National Pay and Benefits Survey:

Reason 1: Offering 10-minutes to create an important resource
We often support organisations to strategically plan for their future. Human resourcing is core to this, and this amazing resource – that’s freely available online – is vital to understanding our organisations approach to minding our most precious resource – our people. As Directors, Board of Management and HR professionals know, it can be very difficult to find up-to-date and reliable information on pay and salary in the non-profit sector – and this information is vital for planning. To have relevance to all our organisations, we need NGOs big and small to complete the survey. It only works if we all do it.

Reason 2: Benchmark for any community, voluntary and charitable organisations
When reviewing or negotiating the staff pay and benefits, it’s recommended that you consult the National Pay and Benefits survey. This research is a useful tool for helping your organisations to benchmark salary levels with the rest of the sector. This is how you’ll understand how you can negotiate for salary levels that are consistent with similar organisations. This can be an important communication tool with the board and with staff.

Reason 3: Being transparent with partners, government and policy makers
The survey is completely anonymous! By having a high number of organisations participate, the sector can be more transparent about the pay and salary levels across the board. This means that both organisations and funders can use this resource to learn about pay and benefit scales, negotiate funding or grants, and maintaining healthy relationships.

Reason 4: Advocating for fair pay in our sector
Any organisations undertaking its own strategic review or campaigning of an increase salary levels will benefit from using this important resource. The National Pay and Benefits survey offers the sector an evidence base for understanding the standards of pay across the  community, voluntary and charitable sector. This allows us to compare to the state and private pay scales and make the case for more resources for the people that provide vital services to Ireland.

Reason 5: Not about pay – it’s about fairness
The National Pay and Benefits survey is not just about measuring pay and benefits in the sector, one question being asked is what is “fair pay” for staffing community, voluntary and charitable organisations across Ireland. Asking organisations to complete this survey will, in turn, provide a clearer picture of current financial condition of our sector.

About the National Pay and Benefits Survey
In March 2018, the National Pay and Benefits Survey was launched by Quality Matters, the Community Foundation for Ireland, the Wheel and Dóchas. Our aim is to develop a comprehensive overview of pay and salary scales within our sector and provide a reference point for determining staff pay and benefits. To get there, we need community, voluntary and charitable organisation to complete a 5-15 minute survey. This important resource is created for the sector and contributed by the sector.

If your organisations is interested in completing the 2019 National Pay and Benefits survey, it will take only 5 to 15 minutes to complete (depending on the number of staff). Each organisation will be entered into a draw prize of €300 towards staff activities/ celebrations in your organisation. To learn more information about the survey, please click here.

To complete the survey, your organisation can choose one of the following links: