Resources for NFP Employers: Navigating the challenges of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for employers, HR teams, managers, staff and volunteers across the NFP sector. Undoubtedly you and your team have been affected – whether you’re adjusting to social distancing in the workplace, you’ve shifted to a remote set-up, or you’ve had to make the tough decision to stand down employees.

As we seek to support our community navigate these tough times, we’ve compiled a list of resources to help NFPs continue to attract, manage and retain your staff and volunteers at a time of incredible upheaval and challenges:

Official COVID-19 updates for employers

• Coronavirus (COVID-19): Advice for employers from Safe Work Australia. Fact Sheet for employers on the latest advice to keep your employees safe.

• Coronavirus and Australian workplace laws – Fair Work Ombudsman. FairWork advice on Coronavirus and Australian workplace laws to help understand employees’ rights and responsibilities.

• Getting your workplace ready for COVID-19 from the World Health Organisation. This document gives advice on simple ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in your workplace; how to manage COVID-19 risks when organising meetings & events; things to consider when you and your employees travel; and getting your workplace ready in case COVID-19 arrives in your community.

• COVID-19 Economic response for NFPs from the Australian Tax Office. Official support and advice on the new legislation to provide temporary cash flow support to eligible NFPs during the economic downturn associated with COVID-19.

Resources for NFP People & Culture and HR leaders

• COVID-19 Webinar: Employment issues for not-for-profits from Justice Connect. A free recording of the webinar covering leave entitlements for permanent employees, managing casual employees, and ensuring the safety of volunteers.

• Guidance Note on COVID-19 and employment-related matters for the Community Services Sector from the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. Specific advice for the Community Services Sector on employment-related matters.

• Leadership Insights: Navigating Non-Profit Organisations Through the COVID-19 Crisis from Koda Capital. A paper that provides leadership insights from nonprofit leaders who share the actions they have taken in the early stages of the Coronavirus crisis, their approach to leadership and thoughts for the future.

• COVID-19 HR & People Ops Prep Doc from Life Labs. LifeLabs Learning has gathered 1,000+ HR Leaders from different companies to share ideas, policies, and templates.

• Epidemic/Pandemic Policy template from the Institute of Community Directors Australia. A free, downloadable copy of their Pandemic Policy which is able to be edited to suit your organisation’s needs.

• COVID-19 Pandemic Plan for the Victorian Health Sector. The Victorian Government’s Health Services Pandemic Plan.

JobKeeper Payment information for NFPs

• JobKeeper Payment – Frequently Asked Questions from the Australian Government. The JobKeeper Payment is a payment made to eligible businesses and not-for-profits affected by the Coronavirus to support them in retaining employees

• More charity workers to be eligible for Federal Treasurer’s coronavirus JobKeeper payments from the ABC. The Federal Government has significantly relaxed the eligibility requirements for charity workers to be eligible for the JobKeeper coronavirus wage subsidy.

COVID-19 Health & Safety Information for your staff and volunteers

• COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Translated Resources from the Australian Government Department of Health. Information about Coronavirus translated into multiple languages.

• COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Translated Resources from Ethnolink Language Services. Information about Coronavirus translated into multiple languages.

• Free online training module on infection control from the Federal Government. A 30 minute training module for workers across the health, aged care, disability and child care sectors which covers the fundamentals of infection prevention and control for COVID-19.

• COVID-19 (Coronavirus) resources from NSW Health. Posters, fact sheets, brochures, videos and graphics to support communications on prevention and protection practises.  

• COVID-19 and Family Violence from The Lookout. Resources for staff or volunteers who may be dealing with family violence at this time, developed by the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria (DVRCV) and Domestic Violence Victoria (DV Vic).

• COVID-19 and Family Violence for LGBTIQ+ people from WithRespect. Resources for LGBTIQ+ staff or volunteers who may be dealing with family violence at this time.

Supporting the wellbeing of you and your team

• Isolation and anxiety: strategies to cope during COVID-19 from the Australian Academy of Science. Strategies to care for psychological health while in isolation.

• Care for your coronavirus anxiety from Shine App. Resources to help manage anxiety and mental health in a global climate of uncertainty.

• Focusing attention when overwhelmed from Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. A 9-minute mindfulness practice to calm a busy mind.

• Strengthening resilience for better leadership from Thrive Global. The importance of maintaining your self-control, tapping into support, and acting on feedback

• 5 things to know about coronavirus and people with disabilities from Forbes. Points to keep in mind about how the coronavirus outbreak affects disabled people.

• 10 habits of resilient teams that start with you from Thrive Global. Whether you are a leader or team member, tips that can shape your work environment for better communication, productivity, and collaboration.

• Supporting caregivers during the coronavirus outbreak from Kunik. How to consider the impact that coronavirus will have on the working parents in your team.

• Five things you can do to make work less stressful for your staff – and yourself from Not-For-Profit People. Practical tips to recognise and relieve stress in the workplace.

• Covid-19 Staff Check-In Survey from Voice Project. A free pulse survey enabling NFP’s to regularly check in on staff wellbeing and business continuity challenges.

• NSW: Access to DCJ’s Employee Assistance Program for staff of service providers. The NSW Department of Community and Justice is extending access to their Employee Assistance Program for free to organisations that they fund. These confidential counselling services are available to your staff for the next 3 months.

Communicating with your staff and volunteers about COVID-19

• COVID-19 Messaging Guide from Anat Shenker Osorio Communications. Messaging guide to inform your communications, promote solidarity and advocate for specific policy changes.

• Three positive ways to lead your NFP through uncertain and troubling times from Not-For-Profit People. Three important lessons for NFP leaders at all levels of your organisation to help lead your team through tough times.

Help for working and managing people remotely

• Going remote overnight: Preparing for the Coronavirus from Nobl Academy. If you don’t already have some form of remote/flexible work policy, now’s the time to draft one and this resource helps do that.

• The Ultimate Guide to remote work from Zapier. Tips to help teams thrive, from Zapier; a 100% distributed company with over 300 remote employees in 17 time zones and 28 countries. 

• Remote-work resources from GitLab. A curated list of resources on GitLab’s all-remote approach.

• Tips for managing a remote workforce during Coronavirus — and beyond from Linkedin. Both short-term tips on how to successfully transition to a temporary remote workforce and long-term steps if you’re exploring how to become a 100% remote company for the long haul.

• The Ultimate Remote Work Guide from Life Labs Learning. A list of the biggest difficulties your team may face when working remotely and simple tips to overcome each challenge.

• 11 high-impact questions managers should ask remote employees from Life Labs Learning. The questions you should be asking to create better dynamics with your remote employees, faster.

• Slack on Slack: Adapting the way we work when offices need to close from Slack. A bundle of Slack habits and tricks—most of them small and easy to adopt—that are making teamwork work for newly remote teammates.

• How to collaborate effectively if your team is remote from Harvard Business Review. Tips to understand the new rules of engagement and build a communication skill set that reflects the demands of remote working.

• Working together when we’re not together from Google. A playbook based on external and internal research at Google to help guide employees, managers and leaders through distributed work experiences. 

• More NFPs are discovering the benefits of remote workers. Here’s how to update your recruitment process to make that work from Not-For-Profit People. The benefits of having your team work remotely and tips on how to update your recruitment process to enable remote workers.

• Leading Remotely during COVID-19 from People For Success. Free training program for managers leading remote teams to support leaders find the right balance between empathising with the change in work conditions and maintaining productivity and accountability.

• Coping at home: Remote workplace wellbeing tips from WorkPlacePLUS. Tips and suggestions to help you stay mentally healthy while working from home.

• Eat Play Love from UNICEF Australia. Top tips for busy parents balancing work and childcare at home – from UNICEF’s child development expert.

Employment law & legal issues caused by COVID-19

• Response to COVID-19 briefing note from Justice Connect

• The Coronavirus/COVID-19 Impact – Employment Law FAQ from Bennett & Philp Lawyers

• Free Legal Advice for NFPs through COVID-19 from Justice Connect. Justice Connect is offering access to tailored legal support for community organisations and not-for-profits that are grappling with complex legal issues arising from measures to contain COVID-19.

• Unpaid Pandemic Leave in Awards from the Fair Work Commission. On April 9, the FWC altered nearly 100 awards to provide a minimum of two weeks’ unpaid pandemic leave for all workers covered by the awards, and also to allow staff to choose to take twice their annual leave at half their usual rate of pay.

• The Impact of the coronavirus on employees – job losses, stand-downs and dismissals webinar from Caxton Legal Centre. This webinar is provided by Arlou Arteta, Solicitor in the Human Rights and Civil Law Practice at Caxton Legal Centre.

• Leave, stand downs and redundancies from WorkPlacePLUS. Options and considerations for employers in these challenging times.

COVID-19 Emergency Accommodation program for frontline workers

The Victorian Government’s Hotel for Heroes program – or Coronavirus Emergency Accommodation (CEA) program –  provides emergency accommodation for a variety of frontline health and community sector workers required to quarantine or self-isolate, but are unable to do so in their home. Eligible frontline workers include:

• Public and private hospital clinical or non-clinical healthcare workers 
• Paramedics
• Frontline workers in hospital laboratories 
• Public and private sector residential aged care workforce 
• Workers deployed by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) or Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) in frontline COVID-19 operational roles. 
• Workers in primary care settings 
• Victoria Police workforce 
• Youth Justice workforce 
• Metropolitan Fire Brigade officers 
• Country Fire Authority Emergency Medical Response officers 
• Victoria Corrections workforce 
• Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation workforce 
• Frontline workers in supported accommodation for people with a disability 
• Community based pharmacy workforce 

The Hotels for Heroes program is also available to eligible frontline workers who regularly work in an environment that involves consistent exposure to coronavirus (COVID-19) positive patients, who need accommodation on compassionate grounds, or those who cannot safely self-isolate or quarantine at home.

For more details, download the Hotels for Heroes – Guidance and screening form for organisations – 29 July 2020 (Word)

Returning to your workplace

• With restrictions to be eased gradually, the Federal Government has announced a three-step framework for a COVIDSafe Australia.

• Employers are also required to develop a ‘COVIDSafe plan’ for their workplace, and the Federal Government has published a 14-page toolkit to assist with this.

• Prepare for returning to the workplace survey template from Culture Amp. Running this survey can help you understand how your people are feeling, what concerns they may have about returning to the workplace and help guide an effective return plan.

• Damn Good Advice on Creating a COVID-19-Safe Workplace from Our Community. This comprehensive guide sets out the steps your organisation needs to take when you’re thinking of bringing your people – your staff, managers and volunteers – back to their usual workplace, including template checklists.

Other NFP Sector Resources

• COVID-19 Pandemic resources for progressives from Australian Progress. A set of resources that may be helpful for campaigners, organisations and non-profits during the pandemic.

• Department of Health and Human Service Community Inclusion Forum (20th March 2020). Video recording of the Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 Community Inclusion Forum.

• Victorian Council of Social Service and Department of Health and Human Service COVID-19 Community Sector Forum (13th March 2020). Video recording of the forum discussing the community sector preparation and planning for the coronavirus outbreak.

• Charity operations and COVID-19 from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). Guidance on a number of issues for organisations that have had their usual operations affected by the outbreak and spread of COVID-19.

Do you have any other resources that have helped you navigate these uncertain and challenging times? Process documents that you’ve created that you’d be happy to share? Guides or articles that have helped you and your team? We’d love to share them with our NFP People community – please share them below.