While reading the very latest third sector news we came across an interesting new release from Third Sector published in the daily IoF Convention newspaper. A survey carried out by Charity Pulse shows that the third sector has seen an overall increase in morale, while in the wider job market we keep hearing that employees are apparently feeling increasingly dissatisfied in their work.

So what makes the third sector different?

The annual survey of charity employees which is run by Third Sector in partnership with Birdsong Charity Consulting gathered opinions from 675 charity staff in 190 organisations, including 342 fundraisers.

We've taken a look at the results and here are our thoughts;

The results of the latest annual survey of charity employees published by Charity Pulse show a general increase in overall morale within the third sector. With the survey covering topics such as empowerment in roles, job security and morale within organisations, all areas received significantly increased positive comments from the respondents, with one of the most significant increases being seen with a 17% increase in respondents stating that they were not concerned about their job security. Maybe this increase could simply be due to the UK stepping another year further away from the dreaded recession of 2008/9, or maybe it could suggest that charities have become even better at making their fundraisers feel secure and valued in their roles.

Charity employee's perception of the quality of leadership at their charities has also risen with 52% saying that their senior management teams were effective, a result which is up from 45% in 2012.

Frances Hurst, the co-founder of Birdsong Charity Consulting, has suggested a reason for this change, stating that; ‘There's a greater feeling of job satisfaction among fundraisers. Last year there was a big dip, but this year we've seen an uplift. Charity income is still under pressure, but this is helping fundraisers to feel like highly valued members of staff.'

There's also a suggestion that charities are becoming more efficient in terms of their day to day working practice with 39% of respondents saying their charity's processes and procedures helped them to do their jobs effectively, up from 27% in 2012. It's been often suggested in recent third sector news items that the sector is becoming more professional, so maybe this response supports that suggestion. This result could also be due to the increasing amount of employees from other sectors moving into the charity sector because of issues currently impacting on the public and private sectors.

Finally, the survey found that 39% charity employees surveyed in 2013 thought morale in their charity was high, an increase from 24% last year. The third sector has always taken pride in the dedication, drive and passion of its staff who work hard for the cause of their charity - maybe this is the key to the increase in morale of employees in the third sector.

You can read the original article published on the Third Sector website here.