The Xfactor Collective Foundation’s mission is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of the social sector. In 2023 they are supporting the Leadership in Wellbeing Governance Award as part of the 2023 Not-For-Profit Leadership Awards.
CEO / Founder Julia Keady, The Xfactor Collective Foundation says:
“After my first few months in the social sector, I wanted to leave.
But how could I? This was a sector where I finally felt I could live my values in the world.”
From those first few months and many years on, Julia couldn’t believe the levels of stress and burnout right across the sector. It seemed to be strangely, quite culturally accepted as part of the job. A perplexing concept to Julia, given the Australian economy, relies on social changemakers to get up every day to do their job.
Some 10 years later, she went out on a limb and founded The Xfactor Collective in 2018 and its charity arm in 2020, to test some different ways of working and collaborating, and see whether, collectively, a coalition of concerned people could put a spotlight on structural and systemic sector burnout.
The Xfactor Collective Foundation – together with partners – is now building a solution, The Social Sector Wellbeing and Resilience Hub (The Wellbeing Hub) with support for Stage 1 from the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation through the Eldon and Anne Foote Trust. As Julia says,
“When I look back I’m glad I stayed. But I’m also pleased to finally be working to try and stop the norm of stress, mental ill health and burnout in our sector.
While it is still early days for us, with The Wellbeing Hub launching in May 2023, I hope that it encourages more of our good people to stay and does something to shift the dial on the constraints and structural causes of the wellbeing deficit.”
And it’s not just Julia saying this is an issue.
Implications of the wellbeing deficit include burnout prevention leave, mental health injury and claims, and hampered service delivery, affecting beneficiaries, communities and ultimately social impact.
The Wellbeing Deficit
In 2020, to understand more about people’s wellbeing needs, and supported by Equity Trustees, Julia and her team conducted the RESET 2020 National Impact + Need Research Study, which included mapping the wellbeing of leaders, volunteers, employees and boards. The research uncovered some significant findings and, what we term ‘the wellbeing deficit’; more than 40% of 338 social sector respondents were feeling stressed, anxious, exhausted or frustrated often or always, with 39% saying their workload was unachievable often or always. As one reported,
“I have been diagnosed with early exhaustion and burnout and simply need a break/relief for time out. But financially, I have to keep showing up to steer the ship through the storm.”
Importantly, 80% of respondents said they believed that pre-existing sector constraints were exacerbating mental health issues. Constraints include funding uncertainty, short term contracts and onerous grant application processes that lead to inability to build financial reserves (40% of organisations had less than six months of financial reserves in the study above), not to mention, difficulty finding and retaining talent.
To add to this, the pandemic and rolling disasters have created a new burden of work on top of an already stretched workforce. In the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) Demand Snapshot 2022, 97% of community sector staff reported that their main service could not always meet demand. As one woman recently told us,
“I am burnt out completely after 3 years of assisting folk during bushfires, COVID and flooding. I experienced a lack of support including being told by the CEO I was inefficient because I am too people focussed and should just “tick and flick”. These experiences have pushed me over the edge.”
Implications of the wellbeing deficit include burnout prevention leave, mental health injury and claims, and hampered service delivery, affecting beneficiaries, communities and ultimately social impact.
Help needed to manage mental health and wellbeing
When asked what would be the most valuable support for staff and volunteers, 31% of respondents said they would like help to manage staff and volunteer mental health and wellbeing.
The Wellbeing Hub that is soon to launch includes toolboxes of workplace wellbeing resources curated into bite-sized pieces for people in our sector who are time pressed. With a focus on supporting leaders, it includes an organisational health check which builds a customised wellbeing status report for leaders and helps direct them to resources in the Hub.
In a similar way to Infoxchange’s Digital Transformation Hub for IT and Justice Connect’s Not-for-profit Law website, our sector is soon to have its own wellbeing hub! As Julia says,
“Together we can move from wellbeing deficit to wellbeing surplus – and the Outstanding Leadership in Wellbeing Governance Award is part of that. It’s about celebrating the people in the social sector that understand and prioritise wellbeing – no matter how busy they are. These people are shining a light for others to follow.”
The Outstanding Leadership in Wellbeing Governance Award is about celebrating the people in the social sector that understand and prioritise wellbeing – no matter how busy they are. These people are shining a light for others to follow.”
JULIA KEADY, CEO / FOUNDER, The Xfactor Collective Foundation
Enter now for the 2023 Outstanding Leadership in Wellbeing Governance category
This award is open to an NFP organisation that has demonstrated exceptional leadership in governing for strong wellbeing outcomes. The NFP has a reputation with staff and among sector peers, for prioritising the mental health and resilience of their employees and/or volunteers.
The ASF is delighted that Julia Keady, CEO and Founder of The Xfactor Collective Foundation will join the judging panel for this award category.
Criteria to be addressed:
- Demonstrated and tangible commitment towards providing a psychologically safe workplace
- Demonstrated commitment at the Board or Committee of Management level towards wellbeing stewardship and best practice.
- Demonstrated commitment towards monitoring the mental health and wellbeing of the organisation’s employees and/or volunteers.
Read more on examples for this award category criteria at this link.
Read full details on the 2023 Not-For-Profit Leadership Awards here. Entries close on Sunday, 24 April 2023.
