Skills Shortage in Social Work & The Role of Procurement for Non-Profits

The need for more professionals in the social sector is more than just a challenge for organizations, including non-profits. It is a system-wide problem that profoundly impacts the quality of care and support provided to those in need. These facilities, crucial for our society, constantly create added value for residents and those requiring care. But what happens when the pillars crumble?

Challenges: Procurement For Non-Profit Social Organizations

For non-profits in the social sector, procurement often takes a backseat due to their primary focus on providing assistance and distributing resources to those in need. However, a shortage of specialists in the social sector leads to weak procurement departments, presenting significant challenges:

1. Budget: Social institutions focus on helping their clients and residents. The budgets available are often limited, so these funds must be used as efficiently as possible. For this reason, cost-cutting measures and cost reductions are necessary in many areas.
2. High, recurring needs: The ongoing care of those in need continuously requires services and consumables. The focus here is on indirect purchasing to ensure the organization’s sustainable existence. It is necessary to procure products and services daily, often at short notice, to guarantee an uninterrupted supply.
3. Maverick buying: Due to the constant demand, the need for continuous supply, and the shortage of skilled workers, the employees of the facilities often take over the ordering process themselves. This means that they order independently and often immediately when needed, usually without comprehensive price comparisons, framework agreements, or checking the suppliers beforehand. This practice, known as maverick buying, leads to uncontrolled orders that disregard compliance requirements and increase costs. The lack of effective approval procedures encourages maverick buying, resulting in compliance issues and bad purchases.
4. Workload in accounts payable: Due to the budgets set by local authorities and cities, social institutions must present their expenditure transparently and clearly. This expenditure often also has to be checked by auditors. This obligation to document presents accounts payable accountants with the challenge of recording and processing all invoices and associated expenses. The phenomenon of maverick buying makes this task even more difficult: “wild” purchase orders are often delivered with invoices that are not easy for accountants to process. The lack of order references and detailed information complicates the invoice processing process and slows down work considerably.
5. Exacerbated by the shortage of skilled labor in the social sector: The lack of qualified professionals further exacerbates these problems. The uncontrolled and inefficient procurement processes lead to an increased workload that the existing staff often need help to handle. This vicious circle leads to an even more significant shortage of skilled workers and worsens the situation.