Concerns about skills gaps and low productivity exist across all sectors, but for non-profit organizations, the situation is especially dire, according to Michael Weatherhead of Ottawa Education Group.
“We all recognize non-profits play a critical role, but we just don’t do enough to help them,” Weatherhead, chief strategy officer of the local ed-tech company, told OBJ. “I don’t want to be an alarmist, but if we’re not careful and we don’t start changing the culture of upskilling education, you’re going to have fewer and fewer non-profits getting to a point where they can make meaningful change.”
In recent years, attention has been paid to Canada’s lack of productivity, which Weatherhead said goes hand-in-hand with a lack of innovation from Canadian companies.
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“We have been ringing the alarm bells externally, saying Canada is falling behind on the innovation needle,” he said. “That’s not a secret, and now it’s being publicized more. Prime Minister (Mark) Carney has stood up and said, we need to double-down. Especially with the friction we’re having lately with the U.S. government and how we do business with them … We get so busy doing the day-to-day that we don’t actually put the investment into our team.”
According to Weatherhead, Canadians are over-educated, with more people earning university degrees. However, training often stops after graduation. Compared to the U.S., he said Canadian businesses spend four times less per person on upskilling to allow workers to continue developing their skills.
As a result, he said companies in Canada stagnate. “We just stop learning and innovating.”
When workers feel stagnant, Weatherhead said they are more likely to seek out opportunities elsewhere and may even leave the country, leaving a smaller talent pool behind.
While all sectors are dealing with the pinch, the problem is especially prominent in non-profit circles, where both hiring and retention are more difficult.
“There are many ways to improve retention when you’re in the for-profit space,” he said. “But when you look at non-profits, you’re suddenly not in the business of getting into it for the money. It’s purpose-driven. You come to work for mission-driven work, not profit, so it’s already harder to find meaningful talent in that space.”
On the whole, Weatherhead said the non-profit sector has always been less attractive to younger employees — mostly due to lower salaries and heavy workloads — and it’s the same situation for the newest generation of workers.
While some young people start their careers at non-profit organizations because they want to do purpose-driven work, he said others may use it as a launchpad to gain experience and jump into a more lucrative private-sector career. Even those who want to be there, he said, might eventually leave for financial reasons.
Currently, he said non-profits are particularly deficient in tech and digital skills, which are increasingly useful for organizations looking to improve efficiency by adopting technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Other areas where private companies are also seeing gaps are lacking as well, he said.
“In that space, soft skills become massive as well. Quite often, the communication aspect of non-profits becomes critical. Because they’re moving at such a pace and everyone is so burdened with the amount of time they work, we have some interconnectivity issues that unfortunately arise,” he said.
“It’s like, if the house isn’t built, don’t buy the furniture. You really need to make sure internally that your ethos is clear and people working with you understand the mission. I often see a massive gap. Before they can touch on the technical side, they need to make sure their workflow and day-to-day are more efficient. But, crucially, soft skills come from the leadership down.”
Bringing in talent at upper levels is also difficult, he said. With fewer resources, non-profits can’t afford to compete against the private sector for experienced leaders.
As a result, Weatherhead said the non-profit sector has been dealing with an ongoing skills shortage that is slowing its work.
“These organizations are already more cash-strapped than their for-profit counterparts,” Weatherhead said. “They rely on grants and you wear multiple hats within the organization. They’re so stretched administratively and operationally that they fall behind innovatively even more.”
Like private-sector businesses, Weatherhead said non-profits need to provide more opportunities for training and career development to build up an internal talent pipeline and train future leaders from within.
Unlike private companies, he said the challenge for non-profits is the lack of resources available to cover the costs of those types of opportunities.
In a city like Ottawa, where the non-profit sector makes up a significant portion of the local ecosystem, Weatherhead said private businesses have unique resources to contribute.
“One thing that is uniquely Canadian is we look after our neighbours and these non-profits do the same thing,” he said. “I think everyone should have a mission to support where they can. If you have money you can donate, if you can give your services in terms of training and development, you can do that. If you can volunteer, do that. These are useful things that we can do as everyday people to empower their missions.”
