Values-Based Human Resources in Progressive Nonprofits
Whitney Herrington, Partner
Learning Outcomes
Introduce the concept of values-based human resources/people practices
Understand the key functions of HR and how to take a values-based approach
Understand the need for values-based approach to HR
Agenda
• Introductions
• Community Norms and Ground setting
• What are values-based HR/people practices?
• Challenges with existing approach to HR/people practices
• Transforming your organization for a values-based HR approach
• Key functions: recruitment, selection, onboarding
• Key functions: employee relations and policies
• Key functions: employee engagement
• Key functions: compensation, benefits, and other rewards
• Wrap up & questions
Our goal is to create and hold a safe space for all of us to participate, learn, and grow.
Ground Setting�
When you hear the term “values-based HR, what does it mean to you?
What is Values-Based HR/people practices?
How does a values-based HR approach benefit organizations?
Definition
Values-based HR is a philosophy related to the management of staff contributions to the organization that ground progressive, shared beliefs and assumptions in leadership, decision making, and practices.
Challenges with Current Approach to HR/People Practices
Insidious tension, conflict, and distrust between staff and management
Increased perception and actions of bias, discrimination, and inequities
Damaging turnover and of employer/leadership reputation
Harmful effects on organization’s ability to accomplish its mission
Key Issues & Consequences for Organizations
Participant Discussion
What are some of the challenges you’ve seen in your organizations related to your people?
Transforming Your Organization to a Values-Based Approach
Values-Based HR: Guiding Principles & Beliefs
How does my organization accomplish this?
Key Functions: Recruitment, Selection, and Onboarding
Recruitment, selection, and onboarding refer to the processes of identifying, attracting, interviewing, determining the best candidates for your roles, hiring, and integrating new staff into the organization.
Case Study
Your organization is ramping up for this year’s elections and need to hire new staff to support its efforts. In your ecosystem, several other organizations and campaigns are also hiring for similar staff with varying salary budgets and internal resources. While you need to hire as many folks as possible, your organization has a mission to support black and brown communities and so you want to focus your hires from these communities. You have one staff member that is using part of their time to focus on your internal recruitment efforts and want to drive an inclusive interview process where the majority of your staff participates.
Participant Discussion
How might you approach this in a values-based way?
Key Functions: Employee Relations and Policies
Employee relations refers to an organization’s efforts to create and maintain a positive relationship with its staff. An organization’s employee policies guide and reflect the organization’s practices and expectations of people-related activities and employment-related matters.
Case Study
Your organization has an employee handbook that you essentially copied from another similar organization. While your handbook has a policy on paid time off for personal, vacation and sick leave, you are constantly fielding questions and concerns about your offerings. Specifically, most employees are still working from home due to COVID and while the work seems to be getting accomplished, you’re not sure how much staff are working – or taking off for vacation and/or sick leave. You’re aware that some staff take time off for occasional doctor visits for themselves and their families but don’t actually report that time off per your policy. Some other staff are reportedly “working” while in another country for what seems like vacation. Further, some staff are so overwhelmed with work that they never take time off and per the policy lose a part of their earned leave each year. Your supervisors are each responsible for their direct reports time off, and they each have different styles and “rules” about time off and reporting. Staff are complaining about these various scenarios, questioning your policy, and complaining about unfair treatment.
Participant Discussion
How might you address this issue in a values-based way?
Key Functions: Employee engagement, Feedback and Performance, Development and Growth
Employee Engagement
the degree to which staff invest their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral energies toward positive organization outcomes that is largely driven by how your organization engages with each staff member
Feedback and Performance
functions that drive bi-directional communication and feedback loops between individuals and groups and support the successful accomplishment of key objectives of the organization
Growth and Development
are present when staff receive encouragement and support in the development of their interpersonal, emotional, and skills and opportunities to demonstrate that development
Key Functions: Employee Engagement, Feedback and Performance, Development and Growth
Case Study
Your organization has strong program leaders with many years on the ground in your movement. These leaders are responsible for a team of relatively junior, but super passionate individuals, many with lived experience in the movement. The org recently went through a new strategic planning process and are exploring new models for change that your leaders have experience with. Because of this experience, you all have decided to charge leaders with teaching their teams on how to engage with these new models. However, in doing so, the leaders are experiencing a lot of push back from their teams and complaining that their teams are not conducting their work in alignment with their training. You’ve heard comments that the junior staff doesn’t think these new models are the best idea, particularly given what they are hearing on the ground. Leaders want to build systems in place to guide the work in this new direction and create mechanisms for holding staff accountable. It’s been your experience, however, that staff usually resist this level of oversight, particularly when they don’t feel heard.
Participant Discussion
How might you handle this situation in a values-based way?
Key Functions: Compensation, Benefits, and Other Rewards
Case Study
Your organization’s annual operating budget has been healthy, but relatively fixed for the past few years. Your funders tend to fund programmatic work and not general operating support for salaries and other benefits for your staff to conduct this work. As such, you’ve typically paid relatively competitive salaries from what you can gather, and provided the general benefits of medical, vision, and dental health insurance. With inflation and cost of living increasing rapidly, your staff are feeling the heat and, increasingly, are starting to think about other ways to earn more to support themselves and their families. However, given the amount of work you’re doing this year, many find it hard to fit in additional hours. Recently, staff have reported that there are two orgs in your ecosystem that are hiring for roles similar in your org at increased rates. While this is true, you’ve learned anecdotally that most other orgs are paying the same rates as your organization, and these two orgs recently received additional funding to increase rates. Further, you and your team had been exploring providing retirement benefits for your staff for the first time – per the request of a few staff members – and recently got awarded a grant to do so. Leadership is excited to communicate this new additional benefit, but you’re concerned that it might feel out of touch to staff and not really address their real issues.
Participant Discussion
How might you handle this situation in a values-based way?
Compensation, Benefits and Other Rewards are the tangible and intangible investments organizations make to employees in exchange for their contributions.
Questions?
What would you like to chat more about and how?