#we unfortunately do not have an hr as a small nonprofit

[writterings]

hey, thank you so much for this advice! i really appreciate it

okay it think my boss is genuinely embezzling funds from the nonprofit he runs/i work for because i got my hands on a financial sheet and tell me why his last few weekend vacations are being charged to the company credit card??? and why there are thousands of dollars being taken out in MY NAME when the largest purchase i made with the card was like $1000 for a bus rental that i asked approval for several times because it was such a big charge???? uh????? like there is $18,000 taken out in my name and i know it's not my fucking paycheck bc i havent even made that much this year yet before tax. so like. fucking uhhhhhh??????

[dei360]

Why Attracting and Retaining Diverse Talent is a Strategic Priority

To tackle longstanding workplace discrimination, many future-focused organizations are adding diversity officers to their leadership teams.   Why? Because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission didn’t solve the ethnic, racial, and gender imbalances prominent in the U.S. workforce, the issues aren’t going away on their own. For example, check out the following statistics about the dismal state of diversity in today’s workforce.  

American Progress reports that in nonprofits, 82% of employees are white, despite the fact that just 64% of the working-age population is non-Hispanic white.

As of 2014, of the Fortune 500 CEOs, just over 4% were people of color, and only 24 (4.8%) were women. As Silvie Woolf said, fewer CEOs are named David than are women.  

Google reports that 3% of its employees are Hispanic and 2% are black.

Apple’s employees are 70% male.

LinkedIn has a global employee base that is 3% Hispanic and 1% black.

Diversity Roles Future-Proof Organizations

Diversity roles are not only relevant for today’s workforce, but for the future workforce as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2012 that by 2020 more women are expected to be working than men. And according to 2012 census data, by 2050 there will be no racial or ethnic majority in the U.S. This trend will continue because 85% of the net workforce growth over the next two decades will come from immigrants and their children. That means the talent pool will be diverse; if organizations want the best talent, they need to address any issues that are keeping diverse talent out of their ranks and out of their boardrooms. Beyond talent on an individual level, a diverse workforce is vital for the bottom line. In fact, 96% of executives polled in a Korn/Ferry Institute study believe diversity can boost the bottom line.  Diversity and the Bottom Line

Here are four examples of the measurable, positive effects that employee diversity has on organizational success.

Catalyst took a look at Fortune 500 organizations with women on their board of directors and found that these organizations had a higher return on equity by at least 53%, was superior in sales by at least 42%, and had a higher ROI, to the tune of 66%. Those are not small numbers.

McKinsey quarterly reported that between 2008 and 2010, organizations with more diverse top teams were also top financial performers.

When 321 executives at large global enterprises ($500 million plus in annual revenues) were surveyed for the Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce study, diversity and inclusion were identified as the key driver of not only internal innovation but also business growth.  

Groups of diverse problem solvers outperformed groups of high-ability problem solvers, according to a study by Lu Hong and Scott E. Page.  

The Course of Action is Clear

So if the workforce is becoming more and more diverse, and financial performance, business growth, innovation, and problem-solving can be attributed to diverse teams, the course of action is clear: make attracting and retaining diverse talent a strategic priority. That’s where diversity officers come in.

Unfortunately, many organizations don’t know how to incorporate this type of role into their current structure. They don’t know if they should add diversity responsibilities to current employees or create a new role. They aren’t clear what that role would really look like, and therefore have no idea who, or what department, would be the best fit.

Where Do Diversity Officers Fit In?

Diversity officers are often based in the human resources (HR) department. Yet HR can often be seen as more tactical rather than strategic in its thinking. Not to mention HR often doesn’t have a seat at the C-suite table. So who should claim this type of work? Who should look at trends, figure out a talent plan and advise the C-suite?  

Next week we will take a look at the type of person, inside or outside the organization, that could successfully claim the important work of diversity. What qualities are most important? We’ll look at a hypothetical candidate and explore where this role might fit into the organizational structure. Stay tuned for a blueprint that can be used to build a diverse and inclusive workforce for any organization.  

Have you had experience working in both diverse and not diverse teams? Were there any noticeable differences between the two? I’d love to hear your perspective.

Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter.  Subscribe To Our Newsletter

[centerforhci]

Why Attracting and Retaining Diverse Talent is a Strategic Priority

To tackle longstanding workplace discrimination, many future-focused organizations are adding diversity officers to their leadership teams.

Why? Because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission didn’t solve the ethnic, racial and gender imbalances prominent in the U.S. workforce, and the issues aren’t going away on their own. For example, check out the following statistics about the dismal state of diversity in today’s workforce.

American Progress reports that in nonprofits, 82% of employees are white, despite the fact that just 64% of the working-age population is non-Hispanic white.

As of 2014, of the Fortune 500 CEOs, just over 4% were people of color, and only 24 (4.8%) were women. As Silvie Woolf said, fewer CEOs are named David than are women.

Google reports that 3% of their employees are Hispanic and 2% are black.

Apple’s employees are 70% male.

LinkedIn has a global employee base that is 3% Hispanic and 1% black.

Diversity Roles Future-Proof Organizations

Diversity roles are not only relevant for today’s workforce, but for the future workforce as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2012 that by 2020 more women are expected to be working than men. And according to 2012 census data, by 2050 there will be no racial or ethnic majority in the U.S. This trend will continue, because 85% of the net workforce growth over the next two decades will come from immigrants and their children.

That means the talent pool will be a diverse one; and if organizations want the best talent, they need address any issues that are keeping diverse talent out of their ranks and out of their boardrooms. Beyond talent on an individual level, a diverse workforce as a whole is important for the bottom line. In fact, 96% of executives polled in a Korn/Ferry Institute study believe diversity can boost the bottom line.

Diversity and the Bottom Line

Here are four examples of the measurable, positive effects that employee diversity has on organizational success.

Catalyst took a look at Fortune 500 companies with women on their board of directors and found that these companies had a higher return on equity by at least 53%, were superior in sales by at least 42%, and had a higher ROI, to the tune of 66%. Those are not small numbers.

McKinsey quarterly reported that between 2008 and 2010, companies with more diverse top teams were also top financial performers.

When 321 executives at large global enterprises ($500 million plus in annual revenues) were surveyed for the Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce study, diversity and inclusion were identified as the key driver of not only internal innovation, but also business growth.

Groups of diverse problem solvers outperformed groups of high-ability problem solvers, according to a study by Lu Hong and Scott E. Page.

The Course of Action is Clear

So if the workforce is becoming more and more diverse, and financial performance, business growth, innovation and problem solving can be attributed to diverse teams, the course of action is clear: make attracting and retaining diverse talent a strategic priority. That’s where diversity officers come in.

Unfortunately, many organizations don’t know how to incorporate this type of role into their current structure. They don’t know if they should add diversity responsibilities to current employees or create a new role. They aren’t clear what that role would really look like, and therefore have no idea who, or what department, would be the best fit.

Where Do Diversity Officers Fit In?

Diversity officers are often based in the human resources (HR) department. Yet HR can often be seen as more tactical rather than strategic in its thinking. Not to mention HR often doesn’t have a seat at the C-suite table. So who should claim this type of work? Who should look at trends, figure out a talent plan and advise the C-suite?

Next week we will take a look at the type of person, inside or outside the organization, that could successfully claim the important work of diversity. What qualities are most important? We’ll look at a hypothetical candidate and explore where this role might fit into the organizational structure. Stay tuned for a blueprint that can be used to build a diverse and inclusive workforce for any organization.

Have you had experience working in both diverse and not diverse teams? Were there any noticeable differences between the two? I’d love to hear your perspective.

Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

[laurazabel]

Getting Our House in Order

We’re winding down the fiscal year at Springboard for the Arts, so the office is a flurry of budgets and year-end meetings, in addition to the regular fast pace of programming. And outside of the office, in our community and country, there is a punishing urgency of needed changes and work to be done.

As nonprofits we need to be engaged in the policy issues that affect our constituents and communities. We should be on the front line making the case for a higher minimum wage and talking about just how disastrous this latest healthcare bill would be for the people we serve and communities we care about. These are fundamental building blocks that are needed for individual and community health and unfortunately there are a lot of people that still need help understanding that, and others who are actively working against these rights, believing that their financial self interests should trump other people’s basic needs. So we have to fight. Please call your Senators about the healthcare bill. Support the folks organizing for a higher minimum wage. We need to be in solidarity with other groups leading this work, even if we don’t think it’s at the center of our mission or expertise.

And, we need to make sure our own house is in order. While we’re thinking about and working on system-change, one way we can tangibly, practically be a part of that change is to review our own HR practices and see if there are ways we could do better. As an organization that has artists at the heart of our work, there is nothing more important to me than how we treat the working artists that make up our staff. These are the people that our work relies on, the people that represent our organization to the world – without them there would be no organization, so our mission of helping artists make a living and a life better start with them, right?

As a nonprofit we aren’t beholden to shareholders or investors so we should be able to lead when it comes to being ethical, equitable employers. For me, it has been a pleasant surprise that I actually love digging into these practices and trying to make them better. Especially when things feel so hopeless and entrenched in the broader policy and political environment, being able to make tangible change, even if it’s for a small number of people, feels meaningful. I also believe that in order to affect policy change, we need culture change and that changing the culture of our organizations might begin to shift the culture of the nonprofit sector, which could actually shift the broader culture.

So, here, in the spirit of sharing, are a few of the principles and practices we’ve developed to support our work and our mission and that, I think, challenge some of accepted wisdom of what is possible and push back against the scarcity culture that tells us getting the most for the least is what success looks like. I’ll fully acknowledge that it feels pretty vulnerable to share these things—but it feels important to me to share them, not to say they are complete or right for everyone else but to provide some tangible proof that it’s possible to find your own way and maybe to give you a starting place if you haven’t thought about this stuff before (please let our pain in health insurance research be your gain!)

ROWE: we don’t track time off, vacation or sick time. Instead we use a Results Oriented Work Environment (ROWE) approach. The U of M has a whole center dedicated to research on this type of work environment with lots of great resources. 

In a corporate/large environment I think ROWE is much more detailed, there's a whole industry built on implementing it. But we simplified it to fit our needs as a small org with a lot of in person contact. In addition to helping build an environment of trust and accountability, this structure also provides efficiency gains in the form of not spending time filling out time sheets and cajoling colleagues to fill out time sheets etc.

Full office time away: Though its not mandated by our manual, I’ve made a habit close the office for a week in December (usually the week before New Years) and a week in July (usually the week of 4th of July) to make sure that the whole staff has these 2 weeks away from work – obviously everyone can and does take other time off, but this is a nice foundation and shared time away (when we’re less likely to bug each other for something!) Depending on the work you do, this can be a pretty simple thing to implement that doesn’t actually cost you much.

Artistic Practice: We put a lot of emphasis on time for artistic practice, staff take leaves, or work out flexible hours to accommodate for residencies, big projects etc. There’s huge value to the organization in their experiences as practicing artists, so this serves our mission directly. Think about the work you do holistically and find ways to recognize that the organization directly benefits when people can build their networks, travel, connect in new places and bring their whole selves to their work.

Parental leave: Staff have up to 12 weeks of leave, 4 of which are paid, typically we work out some kind of combination of full-time/part-time work that lets people stretch the leave/pay longer or come back in a phased way. I hope I don’t have to explain why this is important.

Healthcare: healthcare/insurance is a huge priority for us, we offer 100% health/dental premium coverage for employees and 50% premium coverage for their families – individual employees can also take that same amount of money and stretch it over a less comprehensive plan so it covers more of the cost of their dependents, or they can pay a bit more and get an even more comprehensive plan. We put in a HUGE amount of work and effort to reexamine our health insurance every couple of years to try to make it work best for the most number of staff possible.

Benefits eligibility: our benefits cover all employees who work 21+ hours a week, and we almost never have employees that work less than 21 hours. Covering PT staff benefits helps them make the organization more of a priority, helps with retention and makes sure that our part time jobs are great jobs for working artists and gets us great candidates. I can’t emphasize this enough, if you are mad about the terrible state of healthcare in this country and you’re not trying to figure out how to get your entire staff access to health insurance, then I am confused. Our insurance broker looks at me like I landed from Mars when I tell him we want a policy that covers part-time employees, which is how I know the culture needs to change.

Salaries: Look, no one is getting rich working at Springboard, but we do try to have transparent practices around salaries. We primarily use the MCN Salary survey to figure out salary levels, and our goal is that every employee is at least the 50th percentile for salary for their job title. Our annual salary increases range from 1-5%. When we are able, we use a performance based bonus structure that allows for bonuses based on contributions to the financial, programmatic and guiding principles of the organization in the previous year.

Again, it's not to say that these things are the right policies and practices for every organization or every business. If there's one thing I've learned about this stuff, it's that the systems for how we take care of our staff are a constantly moving target and you have to keep re-examining and reinventing them. Keep understanding the tools that are available to you and the changes in the external environment that impact your employees and keep investing in the people who make the work possible. We arrived at these particular practices and solutions after a lot of research, staff surveys, and with a lot of help along the way from coaches and consultants, specifically Nonprofits Assistance Fund, Chris Rodenkirchen, Chris Kemp and Susan Campion, who helped us rethink and reinvent the infrastructure of the organization to meet our mission. We have also had great boards of directors who supported this work and empowered us to think differently about human resources.

One thing I struggle with is the difficult part of human nature and scarcity culture that makes it easy for people to look at practices like these and say, “well that's easy for you, you're a healthy organization” or dismiss these as the icing on the cake after you’ve built a sustainable or stable organization. And I definitely acknowledge the privilege we have of stability at this point in the organization’s life, I also want to emphasize that we started doing some of these things because we were unstable. As an organization, we aren't that many years out from the time when I had to put my own paycheck in the drawer because we couldn't make payroll for the people who worked here and these ethical employment practices are part of how how we built our way out of that hole, not a symptom of getting out of that hole. You can’t build a strong house without a foundation. For us, the people are the foundation. At the end of the day, I believe that we can’t fulfill our mission unless we are taking care of the people who do the work. Put another way, “If we can’t take care of our own employees than what the hell are we even doing?”