Industries
Why NGO and social enterprise employees leave and how to understand why
Staff at NGOs and social enterprises leave for funding, field and workload reasons as well as pay. How to understand why, listen early and act.
7 min readRead article
NGOs and Social Enterprises
HR for Churches and Faith-Based Organisations: Clergy, Volunteers and Community Trust
A church, temple, mosque, gurdwara or faith-based charity runs on calling, volunteers and the trust of a community. Here is how to organise paid staff, clergy and volunteers fairly and clearly.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsHow the work is organised
A church, temple, mosque, gurdwara, monastery or faith-based charity serves a community through worship, teaching, welfare and often schools, clinics, hostels or relief work. The people involved range from clergy and religious teachers, who may be appointed by a body outside the organisation, to a small group of paid staff such as an administrator, accountant, caretaker, cook, musician or driver, and a much larger group of volunteers who give hours each week. A trust, board or committee of members oversees the work, and its members change over time. Roles often rest on devotion and personal relationships, so formal terms, pay scales and written duties may be thin. Money comes from donations, offerings and grants, and those who give expect careful use. Festivals, services and community drives make the calendar uneven, and many of those who serve are also members of the congregation, which makes a disagreement personal and public. If the organisation runs a school, a children's programme or a residential home, safeguarding and conduct become central concerns.
Who does the work
- Clergy, priests and religious teachers
- Administrators and office staff
- Accountants and treasurers
- Caretakers, cooks and facility staff
- Choir, musicians and ritual assistants
- Welfare, school and outreach workers
- Volunteer coordinators and volunteers
Where HR strains in churches and faith-based organisations
Calling and employment are tangled
Clergy and long-serving helpers are expected to serve without counting hours, so pay, rest and leave are rarely discussed and resentment builds quietly.
Committees change and promises go with them
A past board agreed an allowance or housing for a person, but nothing was written, and the new board disputes it.
Volunteers are many and lightly managed
People give time with no clear role, training or limit, and some are asked to handle cash, children or sensitive information without checks.
Safeguarding and conduct are assumed, not written
Where adults work with children or vulnerable people, expectations on behaviour and how concerns are raised sit in unspoken norms.
Disagreements are hard to handle
A complaint about a staff member or leader touches the whole community, and there is no agreed way to hear it fairly and privately.
What a working HR set-up looks like
- 01
Write simple terms for paid roles
A letter for each paid person covering role, hours, pay, leave, housing or allowances and reporting line, discussed in person first. The HR documentation process gives the format.
- 02
Record board decisions on staffing
A short register of decisions on pay, allowances and appointments that each new committee receives. The HR policies and governance work shows how.
- 03
Give volunteers a role and a boundary
A one-page description of what each volunteer does, who guides them, how many hours are expected and which tasks need two people. Cash handling and work with children need extra care. The employee engagement work supports a respectful programme.
- 04
Adopt a safeguarding and conduct code
Plain rules for adults working with children or vulnerable people and a named person to receive concerns, reviewed with a qualified professional. The grievance and disciplinary process covers handling.
- 05
Set a fair, private route for complaints
A small panel, clear steps and confidentiality, so that a complaint is heard without becoming a congregation-wide matter.
What to put in place first
- List every paid person with their duties and pay, and mark where terms are unwritten.
- Ask the treasurer which volunteers handle cash and what checks are in place.
- Check whether your current board has seen the earlier board's staffing decisions.
- Confirm with a qualified professional the trust, employment, volunteer and child-protection obligations that apply to your organisation and the activities it runs.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
Where GullyHR helps
- HR documentation
Simple written terms for paid roles, so understandings do not depend on memory.
- HR policies and governance
A staffing policy and decision record that a changing board can follow.
- Grievance and disciplinary process
A fair, private way to hear complaints and concerns about conduct.
- Employee engagement and culture
Ways to thank and guide volunteers and paid staff so both feel valued.
Every engagement starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes. Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in ngos and social enterprises, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
HR Process
What should an employee handbook include?
A practical contents list for an employee handbook in a growing Indian business: what to cover, what to leave to policies, and how to keep it usable and current.
5 min readRead article
HR Process
A grievance procedure for a company with no HR department
An employee brings you a complaint about their supervisor. What happens next should not depend on who is in the room. A grievance procedure a small company can actually run.
8 min readRead article
HR Management
The engagement survey that made things worse
Eighty per cent responded, the report was thorough, and six months later trust was lower than before. What went wrong between the survey and the silence.
8 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
Written terms help both sides, even where a religious body appoints the person. Ask a qualified professional how your arrangement should be set out and who is responsible for what.
Give each a clear role, a named guide, set hours and training for sensitive tasks. Thank them regularly, and be open about what you cannot ask of them.
Use an agreed process with a small, fair panel, written records and confidentiality. Take advice from a qualified professional where the matter is serious.
Conduct with children and vulnerable people, supervision, communication, how concerns are raised and who receives them. A qualified professional should review it.
Keep a short register of staffing and pay decisions and hand it over each term. Changes should be made openly, with the person concerned.
We would listen to how clergy, paid staff and volunteers are actually arranged today, and where a calling and a job have become tangled. Usually we look at how committee decisions about staffing are recorded and how volunteers are given a role. A sensible first piece of work is simple written terms for the paid roles, with a safeguarding and conduct code to follow. Scope and fees are agreed in writing afterwards.
More on HR for ngos and social enterprises
All 7 business types in ngos and social enterprises · Find another business type
Museums and heritage sitesHome care and assisted livingCreches and day care centresGrant-making foundationsCommunity development organisationsHealth and nutrition NGOsPolicies, Compliance and Governance in ngos and social enterprisesEmployee Relations in ngos and social enterprisesEmployee Engagement and Experience in ngos and social enterprises
See all HR topics for ngos and social enterprises, or another industry.