Communities losing staff: There is a solution

Moneytalks and some people are walking away from jobs and potentially from a career in community development. It presents a new challenge for community groups.

One community work co-ordinator told me he scrambled to find another couple of thousand euro to offer a valued staff member looking to depart.

“There’s no point,” his colleague said. The difference in salary was €15k.

The lost worker was brilliant with marginalised communities and wanted to stay, but in a time of inflation, rising energy costs and looming recession, money talks and now she works in the education sector. She was the organisation’s third core staff member to leave in 12 months.

Experienced staff are being hired by the better-paying HSE, local authorities and government agencies.

As the CEO of a local development

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company in Dublin tells journalist Kathy Masterson, not a week goes by without them needing to advertise posts or conduct interviews (see pages 5-7).

In Kildare, a community Garda told me of repeated attempts to recruit community-based addiction support workers. Despite repeat advertisements, not one suitable worker applied. In fact, nobody at all applied when the posts were first advertised. The project is in limbo.

The only silver lining to all this is that it must be a good time for graduates.

Nevertheless, there is a solution. The Government says it is serious about its five-year policy strategy for the community and voluntary sector. It recently launched a follow-up document on shared values and principles for when community organisations and the State wish to work together to empower communities (see pages 8-10).

The salaries and retention issue is undermining communities. It is therefore incumbent on the State to listen and to act and ultimately to raise salaries.