A new national study of compensation paid at non-profit arts organizations paints a dismal picture of stagnant pay, poor benefits and high turnover.
The study, by the Cultural Human Resources Council, a group that works to address human resource issues in Canada’s cultural sector, looked at trends between 2008 and 2017.
“There have been minimal compensation improvements, particularly for the small and mid-sized organizations, which make up the majority of the arts organizations in the sector,” the study notes. “In fact, over this nine-year period, real wages generally decreased by an average of 0.1 per cent.”
Other findings include:
- Improvements to life and long-term disability, but decreases in other benefits, such as visual and dental care, with overall benefits below those in other employment sectors.
- Retirement savings plans are becoming more common, but are still at a low level compared to other sectors.
- Smaller and mid-sized arts organizations face comparatively high turnover due to the inadequacies in benefits and the lack of competitive salaries.
- Some organizations are using flexible work arrangements to attract and retain workers.
The study, which looked at 436 non-profit arts organizations, identified compensation and benefits as a top human resources priority of cultural groups.
“Other ongoing human resources challenges and priorities identified by arts organizations include staff turnover, limited career advancement opportunities and inadequate succession planning. Organizations of all sizes indicate that excessive workloads and resource constraints are their biggest management challenges.”