First-generation Canadians in non-profit sector have lower job satisfaction: study

A new report has found first-generation Canadians working in the non-profit sector have higher than average rates of job dissatisfaction, although more research is needed to determine why that is.

“I was quite surprised by that finding,” said the report’s author, Steven Ayer. “Because amongst racialized newcomers, there was certainly really low job satisfaction, but amongst second and third-generation racialized workers, we weren’t seeing the same trend.”

Relying on survey data collected by The Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with the Future Skills Centre and the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University, the Burden of Care report explored several issues relating to job satisfaction in the non-profit sector.

Thirty-four per cent of respondents who identified as first-generation Canadians said they found non-profit work either very or somewhat unsatisfying, compared to 26 per cent of respondents overall.

Many surveyed cited job precarity and low wages as underlying reasons for that dissatisfaction, but Ayer said discrimination was also a notable factor.

Reported rates of discrimination among racialized workers were higher among non-profit employees, at 52 per cent, compared to the public and private sector employees, at 48 and 36 per cent, respectively.

Ayer described the findings as “striking” but said a larger sample size is needed to determine what’s driving that data.

“It’s really hard to separate out where the discrimination’s coming from,” he said. 

“We certainly see some of the discrimination is coming from co-workers, managers, board members, but particularly in the non-profit sector, there were also a lot of folks who were reporting discrimination from clients.”

“This sort of data wasn’t really designed to really drill down on it, but it certainly raises a lot of really interesting questions,” said Ayer.

Annika Voltan, executive director of Impact Organizations of Nova Scotia, said that while non-profits often work towards socially progressive goals, they aren’t immune to systemic issues like racism.

“Sometimes we play into dominant paradigms in systems that can uphold oppression and not be as inclusive or welcoming as we might think we are being,” she said.

But she added that greater awareness around equity may mean folks in the non-profit sector are better equipped to identify discrimination and speak up about it when it occurs, which could account for statistical differences cited in the report.

Jem Roberts, who came to Nova Scotia from the Bahamas less than a decade ago, has worked in both corporate and non-profit environments in Canada. The self-described “Swiss army knife” of organizational operations and project management said the report mirrors her experiences.

“When I worked in corporate, being first-generation or anything like that wasn’t really a factor. It wasn’t even a topic of conversation,” she said. “I never felt discrimination there.” 

However, it was a different story in the non-profit sector.

Roberts said there were times when she felt “unsettled” by tokenism tied to diversity and inclusion initiatives. Often, she was called upon to participate in presentations about projects she wasn’t involved in, just so an organization could better project an image of community representation.

“I don’t think this kind of thing is unique to non-profits, but I feel like there is more push for it there because they want to appear really community-grounded and, sometimes, grants and funding are tied to that,” she said.

Not hired for management

Many first-generation Canadians who reached out to Future of Good about this issue also cited a lack of upward mobility as a factor in job dissatisfaction. 

They said non-profits were keen to hire newcomers for forward-facing or service positions but not management roles.

“A lot of the racism that happens is implicit,” said Alisa Zavialova, who came to Canada from Ukraine almost 11 years ago and now works with newcomers in Calgary.

“Many employees in the non-profit sector and settlement service are newcomers themselves,” she said. “But when you look at the top management positions, I still think the white dominance is still there.” 

One of the reasons new immigrants aren’t often placed in management roles is the privileging of Canadian work experience, said Cagla Azizoglu.

“People coming to Canada from different cultural backgrounds are sometimes, I don’t want to say judged, but employers are suspicious about their talent or their experiences,” she said. “And you can see prejudice there.”

Azizoglu worked with Syrian refugees in her home country of Turkey before moving to Canada a few years ago at 33. 

Despite having a decade of non-profit work experience, including full-time positions with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, she was repeatedly sidelined by non-profit job postings requiring Canadian work experience.

“They’re claiming that they’re fighting for diverse people, immigrants, refugees, but then they’re also saying they won’t hire them without Canadian experience,” said Azizoglu, who now works as a resource development coordinator at a Toronto non-profit. 

“For me, it was so challenging.”

It’s a frustration that sounds familiar to Bijaya Pokharel, who said it’s vital for non-profits to engage newcomers in leadership roles and strategic planning. 

He spent 12 years as executive director of a conservation organization in rural Nepal before relocating to Winnipeg and, more recently, Kitchener, where he now works with non-profits on a freelance basis.

“More funding, more capacity building support would help,” Pokharel said, but finding the right job and employer in a new country is difficult. 

Sometimes, it’s the second or third job newcomers find the most satisfying fit, he said.

Pamela Uppal-Sandhu, director of policy for the Ontario Nonprofit Network, would like to see more research into the root causes of job dissatisfaction among first-generation workers so that non-profits can better meet their needs.

“People who are coming (to Canada) are skilled folks,” she said. “So maybe they were making more, maybe they had a more stable life, or they were in a different field before. 

“And then, if they’re getting funnelled into low-paying, frontline jobs that are not part of their skillset, I can see why they would have higher numbers of dissatisfaction.”

Those working in the charitable sector stress that stable core funding would help address the two other key issues affecting not just first-generation employees but all those employed by Canada’s charitable sector: low wages and precarity.

Twenty-seven per cent of non-profit employees surveyed said their job was temporary compared to just 13 per cent of private sector workers. Non-profit employees are also twice as likely to work part-time as private sector workers, at 34 and 18 per cent, respectively.

A recent Imagine Canada study also found that the average salary of an individual working at a community non-profit is about $18,000 less than someone working in the overall economy. 

Other types of organizations

Roberts said she would encourage other newcomers interested in creating impact to explore social enterprises rather than non-profits.

“Work at non-profit organizations doesn’t always have longevity,” she said. “A lot of social enterprises are very akin to non-profits now and create more impact, but they’re profit-generating with a more sustainable model. They’re not tied to private donations or government funding.”

Canada expects to welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024, and many of them will go on to work in the social purpose sector, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Statistics Canada data shows that about one in four people employed in the social assistance sector were born outside of Canada, as were nearly one in five working in social advocacy, civic, social, and giving-related organizations.

The percentage of first-generation Canadians in these roles is growing. Between 2006 and 2016, there was a 58 per cent increase in foreign-born social and community service workers.

Ayer said it’s essential to remember the bigger picture when looking at job satisfaction statistics. 

“If you look at it the other way, 66 per cent of first-generation workers in the non-profit sector are satisfied,” he said. 

That includes people like Pokharel, who said his first non-profit job after coming to Canada was rewarding. 

“It was a positive experience for me,” he said. “But it, of course, depends on the person. Different people have different exposures.”