It’s hard to believe 2023 is almost at an end already!

We (the EthicalJobs.com.au team) hope that, amid a flood of challenges across Australia and the world – from war and climate chaos to increasing homelessness and our inability as a nation to make progress on the Uluru Statement from Heart – it’s been a good year for you and your team, and ends with some hope for a better 2024.

The NFP sector is the engine of progress and positive change in Australia, and passionate, skilled and dedicated people are at the heart of that.

We hope that the ideas we’ve brought you through this blog – and our NFP People Conference back in February, if you were able to attend – have been able to make a positive impact for you, your team and your organisation’s staff and volunteers.

To wrap up the year, here are the ten posts you enjoyed the most in 2023. We’ll be back with new tips and ideas for you in January.

Until then, have a safe and happy holiday and new year!

1. Every Australian employer has new duties under the Sex Discrimination Act – here’s what you need to know

You may well have missed it, but in December 2022 changes to the federal Sex Discrimination Act came into affect. The legal changes have been made to better protect workers from sexual harassment and other forms of sex discrimination, harassment, and unfair treatment in the workplace, and they impose some significant new responsibilities on every Australian employer, including every NFP organisation.

These are the seven new standards that the Australian Human Rights Commission expects all organisations to implement to satisfy the ‘positive duty’ under the Sex Discrimination Act, plus some advice on what to do next to make sure your organisation is compliant.

2. This science-based tool can help your team build psychological safety

Workplaces have come a long way from a time when safety was equated with physical safety. Occupational health and safety is no longer simply about hardhats and steel-toed work boots — it’s also about psychological safety. A psychologically safe workplace is one where it’s OK to make mistakes, it’s OK to not be OK, and it’s OK to speak up and disagree with superiors or other members of your team. Psychological safety is everyone’s responsibility, but hinges on leadership valuing and facilitating it.

3. Managing people for the first time? Here are 4 expert tips on how to succeed

Getting a promotion that involves managing people for the first time is a milestone in anyone’s career, but it can be daunting when you’ve never done the role before. Here are some tips on how you can succeed.

4. 9 things to do differently if you’re struggling to find the right candidate (or any candidates) for your job

It’s a difficult time to recruit staff for just about every not-for-profit organisation. The Australian job-market as a whole is tighter than ever, with record-low unemployment. That means fewer people than ever are looking for a job – and job vacancies are up 95 per cent in the last three years.

So if you’ve tried to fill a role and haven’t found the right candidate – or perhaps haven’t found any candidates at all – here are the top nine things you should consider changing.

5. How micro-accommodations can fight back against discrimination

Discrimination is a complex phenomenon, involving a mix of big and small, intentional and unthinking, acts. Sexism or racism can be a large “not welcome” sign, but it can also be a series of micro-aggressions that leave women or racial minorities feeling marginalised, stigmatised or emotionally exhausted from repeated attempts to claim their rightful place on the team or at the table.

In this guest post, Professor Rosalind Dixon from the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law offers some valuable advice for managers to help employees thrive, rather than just survive, at work.

6. Onboarding is critical to NFP staff retention. Are you getting it right?

Numerous academic studies have shown that creating a good foundation in the first weeks and months of a new employee’s job is a powerful element in retaining your people for the long term.

So whatever the state of your organisation’s current onboarding processes, if you’d like to step it up, here are 5 ideas to get your onboarding right.

7. 7 ways managers can help employees take meaningful time off and avoid burnout

Hybrid work has many advantages, but also challenges when it comes to maintaining connections required for trust and high performance. How do you foster engagement and motivation, while honouring your employees’ work life goals and time away from work duties?

Here are seven habits managers can use to help navigate the challenges that employees face while taking time off from hybrid and remote work.

8. Four key things we learned at the 2023 Not-For-Profit People Conference

After a three year hiatus, the Not-For-Profit People Conference was back with a bang in February 2023. With two days full of inspirational speakers, the plenary hall was packed with excited attendees, ready to network, ask questions and find answers to some of their most pressing people challenges.

With more than 20 speakers and presenters, here are four things the EthicalJobs.com.au team learned.

9. How to address vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout in your workplace

Vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout present risks for workers of all types exposed directly and indirectly to traumatic content.

But the impacts can affect both individuals and also entire workplaces – with outcomes such as poor mental health, reduced productivity, increased absenteeism and high staff turnover.

Tara Hunter is the Director of Clinical and Client Services at Full Stop Australia (formerly Rape and Domestic Violence Services). Tara has Masters qualifications in Social Work, with additional qualifications in Workplace Training and Assessment and Family Dispute Resolution.

In the lead-up to her presentation on the topic at the 2023 Not-For-Profit People Conference, Tara spoke with us about how to address vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout in NFP workplaces.

10. Three things you urgently need to do to ensure your employee data is safe from cybercriminals

In September 2023, cybercriminals stole “highly sensitive documents like police checks, child support documents, pay negotiations, HR incidents, immigration sponsorship details, COVID vaccination credentials, tax file numbers, passports and licences” from employees of Pareto Phone, a supplier to many of Australia’s largest and most well-known NFPs.

With data breaches and cyberattacks on the rise, are you one of those employers who also doesn’t have appropriate systems to protect your employee information?

If so, we’re glad to be able to outline the key things that you should be doing today to protect your employee and volunteer data from cyber threats.