Managing stress in your charity or not-for-profit organisation
04/11/2023
We’ve all experienced stress at one point or another, but over the last few years, stress has become a prevalent issue in charities and not-for-profit organisations. This sector has seen a major increase in volunteers and workers struggling with workplace stress. With the mixture of lockdowns, energy crisis and cost of living; their services are being relied upon now more than ever.
Here, we explore how charities and not-for-profits can support their volunteers and employees.
Developing a positive culture
Sarah Clarke who authored the Charity Comms’ annual salary and organisational culture survey, surveyed 657 professionals in 2022, with 72% saying they felt positive on their work/ life balance:
“There is a need to move beyond a tick box exercise (however well-meaning). This means working with staff to encourage honest conversations at all levels. It also means offering clear direction and addressing practical concerns such as about stretched resources and increases in service demand.”
The key consideration is what practical steps is your organisation taking to really support their teams when it comes to mental health and the effects of stress?
The Samaritans' Wellbeing in the Workplace is an online learning programme which teaches employees the skills to look after their emotional health and look out for others, before they reach crisis point.
Samaritans’ listening and wellbeing expertise, bringing it into the workplace. This course takes around 90 minutes, split into 10-minute sections. Samaritans’ Training and Engagement Programme (STEP) is a day-long course for organisations who want to build resilience, support emotional health and improve wellbeing in their teams.
MHFA England found that a third of managers (33%) feel out of their depth supporting their team with mental health concerns. They recently ran My Whole Self Day which provided toolkits to help managers. Their ‘My Whole Self MOT’ has useful questions to start conversations. MHFA England’s programme of mental health first aid training has been running for over ten years.
Time to Change, which closed in 2021, promoted an Employer Pledge to “change the way we all think and act about mental health in the workplace”. The materials are still available to help organisations develop their own action plan to consider what they can do to tackle stigma and discrimination around mental health.
Addressing wellbeing
Organisations that take stress seriously, usually set a positive culture of respecting wellbeing. For example, breaks and holidays are expected and encouraged. There is no expectation to work long hours and be on call 24/7. These small things can collectively set the tone and make it easier for people to look after themselves and others in their team.
With flexible working, it can be easy for working hours to be blurred. Being clear about expectations and setting a good example for working hours, breaks and reminding everyone about the importance of wellbeing can help to set the foundations across the organisation. Recognising that people work in different ways is important too. For example, this blog post from Bobi Robson of BeMoreDigital explains about her experience of flexible working with ADHD.
Jude Habib, CEO of Sounddelivery Media told us: “We have a working environment where wellbeing is seen as a priority. There are obviously times when we are busy, and things are stressful but I hope the team feels supported. I try to set a good example by managing my own wellbeing and taking my holiday allowance throughout the year. We also have access to a scheme which includes one-to-one counselling and other support services which we can all use if we want to.”
Recognising work pressure
Do you check in on your staff regularly? Do you have informal chats or debriefs for your volunteers or staff to talk about how they are or how they’re feeling following a session of volunteering? Making time for volunteers and staff to feel valued is a step in the right direction.
Asking for help
Don’t forget if you’re feeling overwhelmed or need support at any time, talk to a loved one, a friend, a trusted colleague, your manager, your GP or tap into the resources available to you, in this article and elsewhere. Left unchecked and allowed to build, stress can be harmful to both our physical and mental health.
Further reading:
- Three ways to manage your stress at work – ACEVO
- How to spot and stop burnout – Charity Comms
- How to work in social media and stay sane – Charity Comms.
Useful resources
- Action for Happiness wellbeing calendars with a different action each day.
- A wellbeing guide for comms professionals – Charity Comms.
- CEO in crisis service – ACEVO.
