I love my work but I hate my job

Nonprofit administrators are some of the most passionate workers out there. We have to be because we get paid less and work more hours than most others. We are doing the work because we care deeply about the cause.

The nonprofit admin hiring scene is often described as “musical chairs” because people tend to leave a job to go to another similar job at a different organization because the previous person in that job left to go to another similar job at a different organization.

Most don’t leave the industry, we just jump from organization to organization in search of a better work situation.

Why?

Because we love the work but reach a point where we can’t stand our job. We just can’t deal with the internal politics, inflexible working conditions, well below average pay, or pushback from colleagues and superiors. I’m sure you have reasons beyond these that you’ve left a job which had nothing to do with your actual work or the mission of the org.

Nonprofits could do a lot to improve working conditions and employee happiness but we seem to be intent on perpetuating a Dilbert-esque environment which only causes people to reach a point where they can no longer take it.

How do we fix it?

What if we had a set of basic things that all nonprofits offered as a way to increase employee satisfaction and happiness?

Most of the things that are top of mind for me are relatively simple and don’t…