May 22, 2017 Human Resources, Interviewing, Recruitment

Five hiring strategies to reduce staff turnover at your NFP

Keeping staff for the long-term is difficult for any organisation, but high turnover is a pain that many not-for-profit organisations know better than others.

The negative effects of high turnover are numerous and well-documented: lower productivity, declining morale and significantly higher costs to train newcomers. Organisations also miss out on the huge benefit of institutional knowledge when key people leave.

So what can your organisation learn from one company that has a 95% staff retention rate?

April 10, 2017 Human Resources, Legal Issues, Organisational Strategy

Is your NFP doing enough to protect whistleblowers?

NFPs aren’t doing enough to protect whistleblowers.

That’s according to the largest survey ever into the topic, examining policies and procedures around whistleblowing at over 700 organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

Protecting whistleblowers is crucial for stamping out fraud or wrongdoing. This post explains exactly where the problems are, and key areas your organisation should focus on to improve.

March 22, 2017 Human Resources, Leadership, Organisational Strategy

The top three areas of HR that Australian NFP organisations need to improve

Do you know what your staff are thinking?

As part of our annual survey of the EthicalJobs.com.au community, last year we asked jobseekers who are currently working in the NFP sector to tell us what advice they’d give their current employer to “help improve the workplace, processes and practices in your organisation?”

Almost 1,000 people responded to the question – anonymously of course – and the results provide a fascinating insight into the state of NFP organisations through the eyes of their staff.

March 8, 2017 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Human Resources, Recruitment

Unconscious bias is keeping women out of senior NFP roles, but we can get around it

Most people would not consciously decide to hire candidates based on whether they remind them of themselves. But one unconscious bias – affinity bias – may lead people to favour candidates who are like themselves, research shows.

If senior managers and NFP boards are made up of mostly men who unconsciously engage in such bias, it stands to reason that more men than women will continue to be hired and promoted – particularly men who share the same background with current managers. This only serves to perpetuate the cycle of men outnumbering women in leadership positions.

So what can be done?

February 6, 2017 Health & Wellbeing, Human Resources

The last taboo: is your organisation’s approach to mental health in the workplace failing your staff?

What if we told you that even if you have a mental health policy at your organisation, it’s likely to be woefully outdated and could be costing you dearly in reduced staff well-being, engagement and performance?

January 25, 2017 Human Resources, Managing People Well

Five principles to begin designing a great employee experience at your NFP

Traditionally, not-for-profit organisations have focused their energies on the needs of their clients or issues, since they’re ultimately the reason for the organisation’s very existence.

But how can you be more deliberate about the ever-important staff experience – and boost engagement and productivity in the process?

December 5, 2016 Human Resources

Eight ways to improve your organisation’s HR practices

‘Human resources’ – what does that even mean? Regardless of what name you go by, here are eight pieces of advice to be the best you can, and get the ‘human’ back in HR.

October 5, 2016 Change Management, Health & Wellbeing, Human Resources, Organisational Strategy

Six steps to ensure your staff are ready when natural disasters strike

Just this week, we’ve had floods in Victoria, NSW and Tasmania and cyclonic storms in South Australia. Natural disasters – whether floods, droughts, heatwaves or bushfires – are rarely far from the headlines in Australia. Which makes it all the more shocking that 25 percent of community organisations say they might need to close permanently after an extreme weather event, while half think they’d be out of action for at least a week.

That’s why the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) suggests that community organisations are generally ill-prepared for disasters and emergencies. To help address this, ACOSS has developed a toolkit to help community organisations measure and improve their resilience in such circumstances.

September 26, 2016 Human Resources, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy

Five ways that Facebook works to stop office politics

Office Politics: in most organisations they’re probably unavoidable. But when manoeuvring for power or influence becomes more important to staff or volunteers than your NFP’s purpose or mission, then organisational dysfunction is probably just around the corner.

When a group of people come together in a work context, the strategies and schemes they might employ to their own advantage can be difficult to stamp out. So what can you do as an NFP leader or HR professional to stop office politics taking hold?

With almost 15,000 employees, Facebook has some serious experience with office politics – and they’ve come up with five tactics that they’ve found useful in preventing politics taking hold and keeping their organisational culture healthy.

June 15, 2016 Human Resources, Interviewing, Recruitment

Does anyone in your organisation work with children? Here’s five steps to improve your recruitment practices

Everyone cares about the safety of kids. But making your organisation safe for children starts long before you bring on new staff or volunteers. From advertising and conducting interviews to performing background and reference checks, the safety of the children starts with your organisation’s core recruitment practices.