Third Sector Working Lives ™

Build a stronger workplace

Third Sector Working Lives is an independent and trusted workforce survey designed exclusively for charities and social enterprises.


Understand the reality of working life at your organisation
by giving your staff and volunteers a safe, impartial and anonymous space to share their experiences openly and honestly.

 

Third Sector Working Lives helps you understand the experiences shaping day-to-day working life across your teams, services and locations. From engagement and wellbeing to communication, leadership and organisational culture, the survey provides a broad and balanced view of how people experience working at your organisation.
Third Sector Working Lives helps you identify the findings that matter most. Working alongside you, we'll uncover the strengths worth celebrating, the challenges worth exploring and the areas most likely to benefit from further attention, ensuring important insights don't get lost among the wider results.
Third Sector Working Lives allows you to benchmark your results against other organisations like yours across Scotland's third sector. Our benchmarking helps you recognise your own areas of strength, understand where your experiences differ from others in the sector and place your findings in a broader context.
Third Sector Working Lives helps you turn findings into informed priorities. Drawing together survey results, participant feedback and benchmark comparisons, we'll provide your leadership team and trustees with the evidence they need to begin prioritising future actions.
Third Sector Working Lives helps you define what success will look like. We'll help identify meaningful measures and KPIs that can be used to monitor progress and understand whether future improvements are making a difference.
Third Sector Working Lives is designed to be repeated over time, allowing you to track your progress against your priorities and KPIs. By using a consistent methodology, the survey helps you understand whether changes are having the desired effect and how experiences are evolving across your organisation.

Built around the realities of third sector work


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The Third Sector Working Lives is designed
solely for charities and third-sector organisations.

 

The questions, reporting and benchmarking reflect the realities of working in Scotland’s third sector, including organisations with mixed paid and volunteer workforces.

The survey content has been shaped with input from organisations of different sizes, structures and areas of work. Both the questionnaire and the survey reports are flexible, allowing you to explore the topics that are most pressing for your organisation.

Third Sector Working Lives has been designed exclusively for charities, social enterprises and other third-sector organisations.

The realities of working in Scotland's third sector are often very different from those found elsewhere. Many organisations operate with limited resources, rely on a combination of paid staff and volunteers, and balance day-to-day delivery with ambitious social missions. Generic workforce surveys do not always reflect these challenges.

Third Sector Working Lives has been developed to provide a more relevant alternative. The survey content has been shaped through consultation with a wide range of third-sector organisations and trusted organisations that support Scotland's third sector, helping ensure it reflects the realities of working across Scotland's third sector.

Delivered by Sirel, an independent not-for-profit research organisation, the survey provides a structured and confidential way to gather honest feedback and compare your results with organisations facing similar opportunities and challenges.


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charities, community groups, social enterprises, TSIs, support organisations and umbrella bodies, etc.

Taking part

Third Sector Working Lives is delivered entirely by Sirel Third Sector Research, from survey setup and administration through to reporting and benchmarking.

Before the survey launches, we'll take time to understand your organisation, your workforce and the issues that matter most to you. We'll work with you to ensure the survey content and language are appropriate for your organisation and discuss any additional questions you'd like to include.

The survey is completed online and can be accessed from any computer, tablet or smartphone. Responses are collected securely and reported confidentially, helping participants share their experiences openly and honestly.

Once fieldwork is complete, you'll receive a detailed summary of your results, including headline findings, section scores, participant comments and benchmarking against similar organisations across Scotland's third sector.

The entire process can typically be completed within six weeks, although timings may vary depending on the level of reporting and support required.

Benchmarking & comparison.

Participating organisations receive benchmarking data showing how their results compare with others across Scotland’s third sector.

This can help you:

  • understand whether results are typical or unusual
  • provide helpful context for boards and funders
  • support internal discussion, reflection and planning

Benchmarking is based on consistent and robust data collected across the sector.

Benchmarking
& comparison.

Independence
& data security.

Independence & data security.

The survey is run independently, helping staff and volunteers feel confident that their responses are anonymous and handled appropriately. 

Sirel holds Cyber Essentials certification and follows recognised standards for the secure handling of personal and confidential data.

Pricing & access.

The Third Sector Working Lives survey is delivered on a not-for-profit basis. Pricing is designed to maximise access and participation, rather than profit.

Fees are transparent and are set on a sliding scale, with lower costs for:

  • smaller organisations
  • lower income organisations
  • organisations with fewer staff and/or volunteers

Our aim is to ensure cost isn’t a barrier to understanding your workforce’s experiences.

Taking part.

If you’re considering a staff or volunteer survey and want something designed specifically for the third sector, the Third Sector Working Lives survey may be a good fit.

We recommend this survey for organisations
with 10+ staff or volunteers.

To talk it through, or to find out more about timings and costs, please get in touch.

Get in touch!

Get in touch!

Get in touch!

"Alex took the time to find out about our service and produced a survey which was accessible, inclusive, and tailored to our service. "

Sharon Bairden - Chief Officer at Ceartas

"We were delighted with the staff and volunteer survey designed and delivered by Sirel Third Sector Research.

The analysis provided was clear and insightful and the fact that it was independent meant our staff and volunteers felt confident to be open in their responses.
Findings have assisted us in strengthening internal communications and have informed our planning, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Sirel Third Sector Research to other organisations."