Social Current has released its 2021 U.S. Human Services Workforce Trends and Compensation Study. Use this report to help your organization stay competitive and high performing, hire top candidates, and retain the best employees.
This year’s report has been informed by data from more than 230 nonprofit human services organizations and features detailed salary information on the top executive, professional, direct service, and support staff positions.
The study provides compensation data for 60 positions:
- Chief executive
- Professional staff: 16 positions
- Direct services Staff: 22 positions
- Support staff: 21 positions
The 2021 survey also included a section on human services workforce trends. This information builds on data collected in 2017 and 2019. The trend report addresses topics including recruitment, retention, turnover, and advancing equity. New this year is a section on how organizations adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The trend report is based on survey questions developed in consultation with human resources professionals at community-based organizations. Use this baseline data, which is designed for benchmarking and goal setting, to encourage conversations, generate ideas, identify priorities, and inspire new questions.
Key Findings of the Study
- Nearly 70% of participating organizations believe that not having a formal retention plan at least somewhat hinders their organizations’ progress to some degree, yet many report financial and administrative barriers to implementation.
- Staff with the highest turnover levels are direct service and support level staff.
- Almost 70% of responding organizations indicated they are engaged in activities focused on advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion at the staff or individual levels.
- Over 90% of participating organizations plan to work in the office again (in some form) when the pandemic improves.
Download the 2021 Report
Download the 2021 U.S. Human Services Workforce Trends and Compensation Study online.
If your organization participated in this year’s survey, the point of contact identified in your survey response was sent an email Nov. 16 with a coupon code for accessing the report. Contact the Evaluation and Research Team with questions.
Download the 2021/2020 Report Bundle
The 2021 report complements the 2020 U.S. Human Services Compensation Study, which focuses on executive, director, and management positions. Purchasing the 2020 and 2021 report bundle provides complete compensation data for the full range of staff at your organization. It also includes in-depth information on workforce trends.
Free Upcoming Human Resources Webinars
The State of Vaccine Mandates and Community-Based Organizations
Dec. 1 from 2-3 p.m. ET
Beyond the Great Resignation: How to Future-Proof Your Hiring
Dec. 2 from 3-4 p.m. ET
Contact the Social Current Evaluation and Research Team with questions.
We are excited to announce that our COA Measures benchmarking reports are now available for our accredited private and Canadian organizations. COA Measures is the first of its kind human services benchmarking program grounded in years of research.
We began this journey in 2016 with COA’s 2020 strategic planning process. We talked with and surveyed our network regarding their reasons for seeking COA accreditation and how we could provide even more value to their experience. One theme which was raised over and over was the need for data.
This result is the product of years’ worth of work including research, pilots, surveys, and focus groups, that we couldn’t have accomplished without the incredible network of organizations that are part of our accreditation family. The findings cover a wide array of measures of organizational health and sustainability, including finances, workforce, governance, and many more. Accredited private and Canadian organizations can access their benchmarking report via their MyCOA portal.
Thank you to the hundreds of participants in our first ever endeavor, we couldn’t have done this without the generosity and time of our partners. You can learn more about COA Measures here.