HR Workforce Solutions
By Nonprofits, For Nonprofits
The Unemployment Services Trust has added a new eBook to its library, aimed at helping nonprofit organizations to more effectively find, develop and retain the right kind of talent.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (September 28, 2017) – The Unemployment Services Trust (UST) reveals some of the most common courses of action to take in order to help sustain employee talent that’s a best-fit for organizational values, culture and mission. This short eBook provides ideal tactics nonprofits can utilize when approaching reoccurring struggles with recruiting and retaining personnel.
As a nonprofit organization, having the right team is critical to your mission. Without the guidance of strong and steady leadership or the driving force of sufficient organizational support, nonprofits are left vulnerable to financial, strategic and geopolitical uncertainties.
The eBook, “Nonprofit Talent Sustainability Strategies: 5 Ways to Combat Hiring & Succession Planning Obstacles,” reveals that “77% of nonprofit organizations across the country have no leadership transition or a succession plan.” Such lack of preparation can lead to staff burnout, unfinished projects, lost deadlines, and unrealized mission goals.
“The competition for talent is at an all-time high, making it essential that your organization understands how to leverage the benefits you have to offer,” explains Donna Groh, Executive Director. “This eBook provides the insight organizations need to best prepare for inevitable staffing departures while persuading stellar job candidates to come onboard—helping them save valuable time and money.”
Utilizing recent survey data and nonprofit employment trends, UST is able to provide nonprofits with the top five ways to combat hiring and succession planning obstacles.
The eBook, now available for free download, also highlights:
You can download your complimentary copy today at: http://www2.chooseust.org/2017/eBook
The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) had issued guidance based on inquiries from businesses about wage and hour issues that arise in the workplace through the distribution of opinion letters for five decades. In 2010, the Obama Wage and Hour Division decided to cease issuance of these letters and alternatively, decided to publish “Administrator Interpretations” of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) topics in its place.
Last year, the Trump administration announced that it would resume issuing opinion letters and began following through on its promise earlier this year when the DOL reissued 17 opinion letters previously withdrawn by the Obama Administration. Those letters addressed a wide range of topics from discretionary bonuses and calculation of salary deductions to administrative exemption qualifications.
Opinion letters are meant to guide employers and employees with respect to both the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) laws by providing a better understanding of what is entailed. As noted on the DOL website regarding Rulings and Interpretations, “As part of the administration of the FLSA and the FMLA, interested parties may seek and officials of the Wage and Hour Division may provide official written explanations of what the FLSA or the FMLA requires in fact-specific situations.”
If you have a question about wage and hour laws that you can’t find answers to, requesting an opinion letter might be the way to go. It is important to remember that opinion letters are not binding but are rather informal guidance provided by the Department of Labor. A positive response can help an employer defend a policy in court while a negative response can get an employer to quickly change bad policies.
While the DOL can’t answer all employer inquiries, any clarity they can provide to employers in areas that are frequently unclear or confusing can be helpful—the hope is that the DOL continues to distribute these letters going forward.
For a limited time, UST opens up registration to 501(c)(3) nonprofits interested in learning about accreditation and its benefits for your organization.
UST, a program dedicated to providing nonprofits with dedicated HR support and educational tools, presents an exclusive 60-minute webinar that offers an overview of the major phases of the accreditation process and highlights the benefits of becoming accredited—including enhancing revenue opportunities.
Join UST and Jennifer Flowers, Founder & CEO of Accreditation Guru, Inc., to better understand the fundamental organizational requirements necessary for accreditation, key participants to include throughout the process and how to avoid the common pitfalls of accreditation preparation.
This educational webinar will teach attendees about:
If you’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit executive with 10 or more full time employees, register for the February 13th webinar before space runs out!
Clearly she isn’t turned off by a tough sell.
So, beginning earlier than the rest of us wake up, Laura heads into the office, gets on the phone, and helps nonprofits across the country solve problems, better understand their rates, and save money that they can then put back toward their core mission.
And Laura jumps at the opportunity. “I was very excited to work with nonprofits,” she explained about her start with UST.
“I had always wanted to get into the nonprofit world as I feel very drawn to cause related endeavors and feel this opportunity fits my skills excellently.”
(Even her blood wants to get involved with helping those who need it! “I donate blood several times a year as a form of community service because I qualify to donate to the local neonatal intensive care unit.”)
And, echoing the sentiments of much of UST, Laura loves spending time with her family when she’s not at work. Recounting time spent growing up she explains, “My family would spend a month of every year in the Redwood National Park.”
“It was an amazing chance to explore nature, spend time together, and learn independence. We would stay in a very small town with only one grocery store/tackle shop and the same families would go there every year. I have very fond memories of the early mornings spent learning to fish with my father and then hiking and swimming with my mom and brother.”
“Those summers taught me that my presence has an affect on the world around me, and I feel that those early experiences really showed me that I can do things to help others succeed, which is– at the heart of it– what UST is all about.”
Have questions for Laura? Want to know more about the UST Team? Tweet us at @USTTrust!
Take a moment and ask yourself about your perceptions of who in America gives the most from before this study came out.
Would you have been mostly likely to assume that the very rich gave the most, or that the middle class and working poor gave the most? If you guessed the first, you, like many of those culling through the study results, would have been in for quite a surprise. Throughout America, those who live among the needy, who see the specific needs of others on a daily basis, are more likely to give a higher percentage of their median discretionary income to charitable causes.
In short, the study found that:
Perhaps most importantly the study leads to the suggestion that as the nation continues to recover the cities and states with the most generous residents may be in a better position to offset unemployment and other financial setbacks.
Find out how generous your city is, and see how your state stacks up in terms of overall giving.
*This was found by researchers at the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. Read the full findings of how women interact with philanthropic causes here.
UST is giving 532 nonprofits $3,869,249 in cash back for their ability to reduce their anticpiated unemployment claims within the year.
UST, a program dedicated to providing nonprofits with workforce solutions that help reduce costs so that they can focus more on their missions, announces that it will be dispersing $3,869,249.80 in cash back to more than 532 of their program participants. After accruing all of their claims savings, audited state returns and cash back throughout the last year, UST members will have $30.1 million filtered back into their nonprofits’ pockets.
UST aims to provide 501(c)(3) nonprofits with the latest HR training, outplacement resources and unemployment claims management tools they need to stay compliant with the state and federal laws, while also helping to reduce paperwork burdens.
One of UST’s most popular programs, UST Trust, helps reimbursing employers build a reserve—protecting their money on the front end—so they don’t experience the steep ups and downs in their cash flow due to unexpected unemployment claims. Unlike their for-profit counterparts, UST Trust participants can receive cash back through UST when their organization is able to reduce their unemployment claims and still maintain a healthy reserve balance for future claims.
“The $3.8 million we are returning to UST participants can offer their organizations the flexibility they need to execute additional mission-driven initiatives,” said Donna Groh, Executive Director of UST. “Here at UST, we are pleased to be able to continue returning funds to our members and further supporting the communities in which they serve.”
These refunds are just part of how UST serves its mission of “Providing nonprofits with workforce solutions that reduce costs and strengthen their missions.”
To learn more about the UST program for 501(c)(3) employers, visit www.ChooseUST.org. If you’re a reimbursing or tax-rated nonprofit, and looking for innovative ways to save money, fill out a free Unemployment Cost Analysis form.
Understanding talent management and succession planning at your nonprofit is about more than just knowing where your next hire will come from and planning for transitions. It’s all about understanding the non-negotiables, the employee skills and talents that are necessary for the continued success of your nonprofit. And, in the long run, it’s about carefully planning for the future ahead of each critical position.
Building your Talent Management Capabilities
Successful agencies don’t simply happen overnight, and neither does successful succession planning. It’s important that key people within your organization recognize that people will leave, employees will retire, and key positions will need to be filled ASAP. When this recognition happens, you can begin approaching succession planning within your agency as an opportunity to train and support talented employees in a way that moves their career forward.
When you are open and up-front with employees about the opportunities available for them at your organization, you position yourself and your Board for success. But you also get employees involved in the talent management of your agency.
Getting employees on board early and often, means that they’ll be prepared to do the work required to grow to their aspirations. It also helps ensure that they’ll understand the steps required to get a promotion and help new hires assimilate to your mission. To do this you must start with an internal review of your existing talent management steps and be prepared to change them as necessary.
Internal Review
To get started, begin considering what you’re doing now to develop the people within your organization that you know you would like to groom for future leadership. Ask questions that will help you gain understanding and insight into areas which they need strengthening in, and prepare to demonstrate the importance of investing in their development to others within the organization.
Some questions to consider before you begin explaining the importance of talent management and succession planning might include:
Plan Overview
As you get past the planning stage and actually begin drafting a plan overview, make sure that you remember key items such as visible support from key management and Board members that strong succession plans often include. Lastly, make sure that key leadership criteria with incorporated information from focus groups and industry best practices, and agency accountability and follow-up options should also be included in your plan.
Defining Success at your Agency
Before you get too deep into writing the plan overview and creating the framework for your organizations talent management though, it’s important to determine what the most vital positions are.
You’re first thought might be to say your agency couldn’t survive without the Executive Director, or the CFO, but what about the Intake Coordinators, Fundraisers, and front-line workers your agency couldn’t live without?
While determining which positions are most important at your organization, be careful that you’re not only including top management, top performers, or current, well-liked employees. Include positions that are crucial to the daily functions of your organization and give these the highest priority for review based on the risk the organization runs with each vacancy.
Once the most important positions are determined, develop a success profile for each position that identifies the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience a new hire would have to have for this critical role. Now might also be a good time to take a look at the performance assessments that have been conducted on this position- regardless of the employee within the position- over the last few years. (Learn more about setting the stage for an effective performance Assessment here.)
Developing the Talent
Now that you’ve determined the most critical positions within your organization and developed success profiles for each of them, you’re ready to begin figuring out how to develop the employees you would like to groom for these positions.
You’re goal in this should be to identify and develop internal candidates that may be potential successors for specific positions. These potential successors should match:
If an employee you think might be worth developing doesn’t match on any of the above three points, begin developing outside connections that expose you to the potential employees that would help fill the gaps in your agency.
Throughout this step you’ll want to use performance management tools that integrate organizational data outside of the typical performance review to help build a complete profile of the individual that is in the position. A more comprehensive talent inventory that involves multiple aspects of the position will allow you to identify skills gaps at the departmental level and systematically identify the people with qualifications that fill those gaps.
Recruiting and Hiring the Right Talent
Before finishing your succession planning, make sure that you have identified the timing and process for bringing new people into the organization, particularly for your critical roles. Because successful recruitment occurs long before a vacancy occurs, the profiles and assessments you create now will help you identify the types of skills and talents that your organization thrives because of.
Read the original Capability Company report here.
Being a part of the working world, we’ve all encountered moments of failure. Take this scenario for example: You’ve been assigned a task, you’ve completed your research, and you believe you’ve done all you could do to prepare—however, things still don’t work out in your favor. While we all recognize the importance of learning from our mistakes, employees can struggle to bounce back from missteps. From a project that didn’t meet its target objectives to an important missed deadline, what is the best course of action to take to help your employees recover?
Employees can take on failure in one of two ways:
1) People can bounce back from their mistakes with a clear mind and resolve.
2) People can feel crushed, lose confidence and even stop doing the things that made them successful.
How you communicate with your employees can have a huge influence on their performance. For the nonprofit sector in particular, it’s crucial to maximize what limited bandwidth there is—in order to achieve steep mission objectives. When building resilience in your employees, you must consider the tactics that work and don’t work when restoring an employee’s confidence.
While building up an employee’s self-image or giving a pep talk is harmless, it doesn’t seem to provide much help to the situation at hand. A pep talk can gloss over the failure rather than addressing the problem (and potential solution) head on. To be their guide to move on from the disappointment and better manage his or her emotions is essential. Also, encouraging people to forgive themselves, while still holding themselves accountable for their mistakes, is a beneficial tactic for people to build upon their mishaps.
Follow this simple 3-step model to bounce back from failure:
1) Acceptance– People need to come to terms with the fact that they made a mistake and understand why. This helps people own their failures.
2) Forgiveness– Encourage employees to forgive themselves. Use empathetic wording, such as “This is a tough job; you’re not the only one that is having a hard time” or “Try not to beat yourself up over this.”
3) Planning– Help employees plan their way forward. Figure out what they can do to fix the damage, if possible, and how to avoid making a similar mistake in the future.
UST helps 501(c)(3)s lower their unemployment costs & maintain HR compliance, providing resources to help refocus on mission objectives.
UST, a program dedicated to helping nonprofits ensure compliance and protect assets, today announces it has identified $2,839,940 in potential unemployment liability savings for 135 eligible nonprofits.
For 35 years, UST has been helping 501(c)(3) organizations exercise their exclusive nonprofit tax alternative, as allowed by Federal law, to pay only for their own unemployment claims which can save them thousands annually. Because they are no longer subsidizing for-profit companies in the state tax system, and are receiving expert claims guidance, UST members can efficiently manage their unemployment claims while mitigating liability.
“UST has continued to identify potential unemployment claims savings for multiple nonprofits across the United States,” said Donna Groh, Executive Director of UST. “It’s incredibly rewarding to know that the UST program continues to provide financial relief to such hard-working nonprofits and the communities they serve.”
UST offers exclusive access to a variety of resources, ranging from a live HR hotline and job description builder to e-filing capabilities and claims hearing support. By utilizing their dedicated claims representatives, cloud-based HR resources, and outplacement services, these nonprofits can refocus their saved time and money on what matters most—achieving mission objectives.
If you’re a 501(c)(3) looking for ways to help your nonprofit save money, benchmark your unemployment costs by filling out a free Unemployment Cost Analysis form today.
UST maintains a secure site. This means that information we obtain from you in the process of enrolling is protected and cannot be viewed by others. Information about your agency is provided to our various service providers once you enroll in UST for the purpose of providing you with the best possible service. Your information will never be sold or rented to other entities that are not affiliated with UST. Agencies that are actively enrolled in UST are listed for review by other agencies, UST’s sponsors and potential participants, but no information specific to your agency can be reviewed by anyone not affiliated with UST and not otherwise engaged in providing services to you except as required by law or valid legal process.
Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
UST maintains a secure site. This means that information we obtain from you in the process of enrolling is protected and cannot be viewed by others. Information about your agency is provided to our various service providers once you enroll in UST for the purpose of providing you with the best possible service. Your information will never be sold or rented to other entities that are not affiliated with UST. Agencies that are actively enrolled in UST are listed for review by other agencies, UST’s sponsors and potential participants, but no information specific to your agency can be reviewed by anyone not affiliated with UST and not otherwise engaged in providing services to you except as required by law or valid legal process.
Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
If they’re fighting this hard, chances are they didn’t do their research!
As a starting point, make sure that you’ve gotten far enough along in the interview process that you’re questions are appropriate. The standard suggests that asking in the first meeting is too forward, but by the second or third interview you should have some idea of whether or not the salary fits your expectations and living standards.
Once you have an idea of what the salary may be, and are firmly knowledgeable of the fact that the organization (and you!) have decided you’re right for the position be “Ready For Practice.”
A short mnemonic you can easily remember to help you better retain these principles, “Ready For Practice” translates to: Research, Focus on the Future, and Prioritize.
Let’s start with “Research.”
Research
If you don’t already know them, research the standard compensation benefits for specific nonprofit jobs. Often nonprofits review their executive compensation packages annually against peer organizations, but if you aren’t looking for an executive position you may have more hurdles to jump.
Often nonprofit positions outside of the executive suite are more heavily influenced by internal structures and the current compensation of peer positions. The better you understand these ranges, the more leverage you can create to tailor a request close to the standard that the Board or CEO will accept.
Also look at the financial history of the organization you are interested in working with. If you notice that they have had a rough time for the past 5 years, it may not be in your best interest, or in theirs, for you to ask for $500,000 a year. But, if you look at their financial history and see that they have the right combination of stability and growth that would merit a larger salary for your position, ask for it.
What other tips do you have for negotiating a nonprofit compensation package? Do you have any little known (or best used) research practices others can use? Tell us about them on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn!