Onboarding a new staff member is challenging in any situation, but it is even more vexing trying to onboard someone when there’s no actual “board.” Connecting a remote workforce to mission and to each other is tricky.
It requires more frequent touchpoints during the process and more check-ins by team leaders and human resource managers to keep people engaged and excited, said Eric Dill, senior vice president at the American Arbitration Association in New York City. “Job shadowing and management by walking around has been a challenge. However, we continue to evolve and tweak our programs by employing virtual touchpoints and more frequent check-ins with remote employees,” he said.
The mood of managers and staff for this year’s The NonProfit Times’ Best Nonprofits To Work For often proved to be tentative, with COVID, inflation and turnover all testing organizational culture at the 50 nonprofits.
Selection of this year’s honorees is a months-long process. The NonProfit Times partners with Best Companies Group to vet the organizations from where leaders submit applications to compete. Organizations were broken into three categories, small with between 15 and 49 employees, medium-sized organizations with between 50 and 249 employees, and large with at least 250 employees.
A few hundred data points are compiled and analyzed to find the best organizations. For example, there is one section where staff members are asked to react to 77 statements. Small organizations came out on top in six of the seven categories, missing out in the “Pay and Benefits” area where large organizations fared best.
The data is dissected in depth in stories highlighting small, medium and large organizations.
Staff started returning to the Alzheimer’s Association in Chicago (#25 overall) in early 2022. When it comes to onboarding, focus groups are held with new hires. “We provide supportive tools for both managers to welcome new employees to the organization and engage new employees with timely training and tools to support their success,” according to Mary Grisby, vice president of human resources. “New employees are encouraged to keep in touch with their new hire cohort as they navigate their first weeks as a member of our team.”
The category Training, Development and Resources was tied with Corporate Culture and Communications for the least number of positive reactions within the seven major areas examined for the 2023 NPT’s Best Nonprofits To Work For. The category Training, Development and Resources section received an overall approval rate of 90% at the organizations honored this year as the best. Small organizations were elite at a 93% approval rating and large organizations finished last with an 89% approval rating.
Participants were asked to react to five statements in the Leadership category where positive responses were registered 92% of the time for nonprofits on the list and 83% for those not among the Top 50. Small organizations on the list came in at 96% positive responses.
Corporate Culture And Communications had 17 statements, with 90% of responses being positive from those on the list and just 81% of those not among the Top 50. Winning small organizations were four points above average at 94%. Among the areas that weighed on the positive perceptions were the reactions to the statement: “I feel I can express my honest opinions without fear of negative consequences.” Just 85% of the responses were positive from organizations that made the list and 76% at organizations that did not.
The Alzheimer’s Association is taking the show on the road to underscore culture. “While a majority of our staff members are out actively meeting constituents and partners in the community, we regularly bring staff together through team meetings and town halls, said Joanne Pike, president and CEO. “Two-way dialogue is an important part of those and other meetings. Next month we’re starting a series of regional meetings to visit staff and volunteers across the nation.”
Most of the organizations on the list survey staff at least annually to keep communication lines open. The Alzheimer’s Association launched an “inclusivity assessment to help determine how inclusive the organization is as a whole. This assessment also provided individuals the opportunity to see how inclusive they are,” said Pike.
Role Satisfaction had 11 reactive statements, with winners receiving 92% positive responses versus 83% of those not on the list. The average was 95% at small nonprofits on the list.
When it came to Work Environment, there were five reactive statements with positive answers from 94% of those on the list and 88% of those not on it. The most positive responses came in the small category with a near unanimous level of 99%. Staff seem to get along with their supervisors and within the nine related statements there was a positive response from 94% of those on the list and 90% of those not on it. Small organizations came in at 97%.
Large organizations got the most affirmative results in the Pay And Benefits category with 91% positive responses from those on the list and 82% for those not on it. But it isn’t all that great when employees responded to “My pay is fair for the work I perform” at just 82% of those on the list.
Some perks are coming back. “We used to distribute gift cards for movie tickets to employees on their work anniversary, but discontinued doing that during COVID for obvious reasons,” said Dill of the American Arbitration Association (#33). “We are planning to start that practice back up later this year as COVID concerns subside.”
While few employers will get a 100% rating when it comes to pay and benefits, nonprofit staffers are also feeling the productivity pinch from work piling up. When asked if staffing levels are adequate to provide quality products/services, just 77% of employees at nonprofits on the list and 62% of those that didn’t make the list gave a positive response. It was particularly bad at large organizations where the positive responses were just 74%.
Some of this also has to do with organizational culture, where newer employees haven’t had a chance to absorb the organizational Kool-Aid. Turnover averaged 16.2% but remove the three organizations reporting zero turnover and the number shoots higher to 17.3%. Reacting to the statement “I plan to continue my career with this organization for at least two more years,” the average was 90% positive responses with medium-sized organizations dipping down to 89%.
“We saw a slight increase in 2021 (13.5%) but had our lowest rate of turnover in 2020 (8%) and saw turnover trending lower in 2022 (12.5%),” said Dill. “In terms of patterns, almost 85% of our turnover came from employees with three years or less of service, staff who joined just before or during the pandemic. There were various reasons folks left, like perceived better opportunity, relocation, pay, fully remote, etc. For comparison’s sake, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on turnover at professional services companies in 2021 was 64%,” he explained. The turnover rate declined 4% year over year at the Alzheimer’s Association. “We have focused on expanding our efforts to attract and retain a diverse workforce. Staff retention is a priority, with efforts to boost employee referrals, offer sign-on bonuses as well as retention bonuses for key positions across the organization,” according to Grisby. In 2022, merit increases for all eligible staff were doubled, “reflecting our commitment to them and offering some respite to inflation,” she said.
Working remotely at some level is here to stay, the data show. And there is even flexibility for those not going to the office. For example, at OCHIN in Portland, Oregon (#42), staff availability is dictated by department heads, depending on business needs. There are no check in/out rules, officials told The NonProfit Times. The organization’s workforce is 100% virtual except for occasional leadership retreats or member events OCHIN was previously known as the Oregon Community Health Information Network.
“OCHIN pivoted to a 100% virtual workforce in April 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff and to support the growing demand for our connected healthcare services nationwide,” said Lisa Marie May, vice president of people and culture at OCHIN.
“Virtual work has since allowed OCHIN to scale our impact by recruiting skilled talent from across the country that’s more representative of our member clinics, their staff, and the patients they serve.”
What makes a good employee pre-COVID versus post-COVID hasn’t changed, according to Pike. It is a staff member who is dedicated to mission and the people served. While it is true mission often wins versus compensation, staff still want acknowledgement. Reacting to the statement “If I do good work, I will be rewarded,” the positive response rate across all organizations on the list was just 84%.
Here’s the secret sauce to being a great nonprofit to work for, according to Pete Griffin, president and CEO at Musicians on Call (#35) in Nashville, Tennessee, which reported zero turnover. “I’d say it comes from the fact that we as a team live by the principles that everyone should come to work each day feeling respected, trusted, challenged and excited,” said Griffin. “These are four principles we not only discuss on a weekly basis, but everyone takes it upon themselves to bring up in individual or group conversations.”
Anyone with ideas how Musicians on Call can improve, or if there are areas to focus more attention on, they are discussed. “When everyone on the team knows they are in a psychologically safe space to have such conversations, people know they are working at a place where they will be treated the right way and are surrounded by people who believe in those principles,” said Griffin. “I think that contributes to people wanting to stay here.”
To see the breakdown of categories, to to the digital edition … https://thenonprofittimes.com/the-nonprofit-times-digital-edition/
