Medical research charities collectively account for almost half of all publicly funded medical research in the UK. The Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) is the national membership organisation that has been representing and supporting this diverse group of charities since 1987. AMRC member charities range in size from no paid staff to more than 300. Despite this diversity, they have many common goals and encounter similar challenges.
One of AMRC’s aims is to support staff at medical research charities by providing networking opportunities, training and guidance. In October 2017 AMRC created an HR advisory group to feed into a wider HR network. Currently there are representatives of 10 different charities who range in size and focus. The first priority identified by the advisory group was to generate benchmarking data for charities to draw upon when making human resource decisions. Together, the group designed a survey with the aim to
Survey information
The survey was distributed to all CEOs of AMRC member charities in April 2018. Charities had six weeks to complete the survey and could do so in multiple sittings. There were approximately 50 questions that were a mix of yes/no, multiple choice, checklist and free text formats. An answer was not required for any question but most respondents answered all questions. Participants were instructed to base answers on the 2017 calendar year unless instructed otherwise.
HR function was defined for the purposes of this survey as the issues of managing people in the organisation, including
The following disclaimer was provided to participants: “We would like to emphasize that all the information you provide in this survey will be treated in complete confidence. Each participating organisation will be listed in the report but results will be reported back in aggregate and individual respondents will not be identified by name or any distinguishing characteristics (for example, number of employees).”
Main topics in the survey include:
In May 2018 we circulated a survey of 50 questions to our member charity CEOs and formal representatives. This resulting report is the first of its kind, providing UK medical research charities with crucial benchmarking data to inform the management of their organisations and staff.
An organisation can only be as good as the people it recruits. Staffing decisions are among the most important that charities make. Over recent years, employment law has become increasingly wide-ranging and ever more complex - subject to constant change. Consequently, our member charities need to take a proactive approach to managing employees and the working environment.
The first step towards a better, more effective workplace is assessing one’s own performance relative to peers and identifying areas where improvements can be made. The best way to do this is benchmarking; collecting information on HR practices and policies from organisations across the sector. But we know benchmarking can be a very time-consuming activity and finding the right organisations to benchmark against can be challenging at best, so we decided to support our members in this endeavour.
I am encouraged to see AMRC charities are excelling in flexible working. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement, especially in diversity and inclusion.
I hope members will use this report to compare and reflect on their HR policies and practices and make changes where necessary to attract and retain the talent that is key to success.
I am grateful for the support of our member charities and the kind donation from the RSA Group to make this report possible. Without their contribution this insightful and beneficial study would not have been feasible.
So many members have proven time and time again the desire to improve and deliver the best for patients across the UK. It is my sincere aim that this report supports you along your journey towards bettering your HR management and organisational culture.
This piece of research is important for the not for profit sector and its findings are also valuable for the wider life sciences industry. Medical research charities are clearly making flexible working “work” much better than industry does. This bodes well for a transition to the digital future we will all share and for the kinds of collaboration that will drive outcomes for beneficiaries as the third sector, academia, health systems and industry converge.
The RSA Group
AMRC would also like to thank The RSA Group for kindly providing a donation towards the survey and report and for their input on the results of the survey.
The HR advisory group
AMRC would like to thank the HR advisory group, who initially identified an HR benchmarking survey as a priority. As a group they developed and tested the survey, and gave input on the results. The following charities are members of the group.