Good staff management, and happy and productive staff members can be so elusive for many organisations, including not-for-profits.
Why? Because many organisations do not understand that good people management happens by design, not by chance. They don’t understand that productive and focussed staff members are a result of good, solid HR systems. They don’t understand that happy and motivated staff members who show initiative are the product of strong leadership.
To help recognise and resolve the problems in this area, let’s look at the seven HR habits of spectacularly unsuccessful NFPs…
Habit #1: Using outdated job descriptions, leading to poor role clarity.
If you want your staff to do a good job and be accountable for what they do, you need to clarify what is expected from them. Role clarity is the goal – no ambiguities, no room for misinterpretation. To achieve this, you need to ensure that every position in your NFP has a succinct and up-to-date job description that includes these two elements:
- Key duties and responsibilities (focus on outcomes rather than activities)
- Necessary personal attributes
Allocate importance weightings to these elements, so as to communicate the priorities. Also include quantifiable measures (KPIs).
Habit #2: Being ineffective in performance appraisals.
If you do not tell your staff where things are going wrong, then how can they know? If you are not honest with them by providing fair and objective feedback, how will they ever improve? Good performance appraisal is actually not that hard to do well. You need a good system and some training. However, the term “performance appraisal” tends to be off-putting. Perhaps it is better to call it a “performance discussion”.
Habit #3: Failing to pay properly
There are still people who think they can get away with paying staff members below market rates? However, people today are more knowledgeable about their market worth. If you cannot pay proper remuneration, then you will struggle to find and keep good staff. At a minimum, you should:
* Conduct a remuneration benchmarking review
* Ensure you have a remuneration policy
* Consider implementing a financial incentive system, as do many NFPs.
Habit #4: Using outdated HR policies, procedures and employment contracts
Many organisations just don’t bother ensuring their HR documents are up to date. It is important to have a complete HR policies and procedures manual that covers the key staff policies that will protect your NFP should there be a disagreement. Be sure your employment contracts comply with the National Employment Standards as per the Fair Work Act 2009.
Habit #5: Failing to comply with Work Health & Safety laws
Many NFPs do not seem to realise that they need to comply with the Work Health & Safety laws. While these are complex, it is really not that complicated when you know how they work. These five steps will get you going:
* Set up a WHS manual with all the necessary policies, procedures and forms
* Complete a risk assessment of your workplace – detail hazards and risks, and review roles and positions
* Develop your consultation processes
* Train your staff in your WHS systems
* Ensure senior staff members comply with all six parts of their Due Diligence Duty as stipulated in the WHS Act.
Habit #6: Ignoring payroll compliance
Check to ensure that everyone is being paid at the relevant award rate, or higher. Check pay slips to be sure they comply with the Fair Work Act. Check that your contractors truly are contractors – or are they actually employees? Also check that your casual workers truly are casuals and are not actually part-timers. Failing to take these steps means you are potentially carrying serious legal liability, and need to do something about it
Habit #7: Lacking management skills
Good management is the glue that holds the workplace together, and many NFP managers have not been taught how to properly manage staff. Again, it’s not that hard and it can make all the difference. Can you communicate effectively with your staff? Can you delegate work properly? Can you run a staff meeting correctly? Do you know how to recruit the best people? Do you know how to motivate your staff? These questions all relate to your management skills – or lack of them. Staff in NFPs today expect to be well-managed. If not, they are going to leave and join another organisation.
So what can be done about these seven bad HR habits of unsuccessful NFPs? To start with, just making CEOs and managers aware of them should be a big help.
NFPs should scrutinise their people practices, as the seven bad habits are too dangerous to be left unchecked. Do your research and seek good advice and support. Remember, good HR happens by design, not by chance.
Mark Werman is the Managing Director of Wentworth Advantage.
This article was originally featured in Third Sector’s June print magazine- for more information click here.