August 15, 2014 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Nearly half of nonprofit human-resource executives say their influence has grown in the past year, while 21 percent report increases in their department’s size, according to a new survey.
They say the change is largely the result of new leadership or senior management better understanding the role of human resources in achieving organizational success.
Forty-six percent say their status is the same, and 4 percent say their influence has decreased. As an example of what has changed for the worse, some executives say they no longer report to the chief executive or chief operating officer as they did in the past.
The study, published by the Nonprofit HR, a consulting company, was based on data collected in April from senior human-resource executives at 260 nonprofits with a total of 84,886 employees.
Just a little more than a third of the groups said they had a written human-resource strategy—plans identifying current and future need; the largest employers the most likely to have such a document in place. It is that figure that most surprised Lisa Brown Morton, chief executive at Nonprofit HR.
“If HR is going to make a valuable contribution, there should be a plan, and that plan should be aligned with the organization’s strategic plan,” Ms. Morton says.
21% Increase Staff Size
Among the other findings:
- At small nonprofits (those with 250 or fewer workers), one human-resource staff member serves every 39 workers, while at medium-size groups (251 to 999 workers) that ratio is 66 to one, and at large nonprofits (those with 1,000 or more workers), the ratio is 107 to one.
- Three-quarters of executives say the number of people in their human-resource department did not change in the past year, while 21 percent were able to hire additional employees.
- At nearly two-thirds of the nonprofits, senior human-resource leaders report to the chief executive, while nearly a third report to the chief financial officer, chief operating officer, or top-level directors.
