Nonprofit Management: Treat Employees Better, Not Worse, In Tough Economy

“Be thankful you have a job” or “I’m just thankful to have a job” – I am sure you have heard this phrase a lot lately. It seems to be the mantra  in all business sectors including nonprofits during these tough economic times. While it is true that all employees should work hard and be productive, even more so in such a competitive job market, it does not mean they should be expected to do so only because they are employed. Employers can only hope for the bare minimum out of employees that are in this situation. The growing trend is that employees should be quiet and be grateful to have a job to go. That somehow the employer has graced them with this opportunity and therefore should be even more productive. At the same time, employers are asking more and more of each of their employees to make up for the inability to hire necessary positions and growing pressure to preform at even higher levels in order to maintain current members or donors.

However, nonprofits must recognize that “thankful” employees do not equal “happy”, “productive” or even “content” employees. In fact, it has been my experience that employees who are meant to feel that they should “just be happy to have a job” are usually unhappy, unproductive and very discontent. The joke is that by implying that an employee should be happy that they have a job, you are actually making them more fearful that they might not in the near future.

It seems to me that this concept of treating employees poorly and expecting them to be happy about it is a growing trend, especially during these tough times. This is leading to the steady decline of morale at many nonprofits and if left uncorrected, I believe could hurt nonprofit organizations in the long-term.

My message here is simple: Treat your employees better in tough economic times, not worse, and your organization will be rewarded!

Here are some of the many reasons to focus on improving your work environment and treating employees better now more than ever:

• It’s the right thing to do - Simply put it is the duty of an employer to treat its staff well.
• Happy and engaged employees are productive employees – Truly happy and engaged employees are naturally more productive and that will help lead your nonprofit out of the economic woods faster.
• Replacing employees is costly – A recent study showed it costs $4,000 to replace just one $8 per hour full time employee. That adds up if you encourage high turnover.
• Institutional Knowledge – When you lose an employee the cost of the knowledge, experience and training that goes with them is invaluable.
• Low morale discourage innovation – A nonprofit needs to keep growing and innovation makes that possible. Employees who are not happy or engaged will not be innovative and that will not move your nonprofit forward.
• Keeping and attracting the best talent - A nonprofit is only as good as the people who work and volunteer for it. If your nonprofit is perceived as a poor place to work or that employees want to leave then you will not only lose your most talented people, you will also never attract the talent you want and need. Just ask someone their opinion of a nonprofit that has consistently high staff turnover.
• Employees can be your best or worst advocate – Word of mouth is very powerful and employees who are not happy will not share happy news with their friends. This cannot only affect just talent recruitment but potentially member and donor recruitment. People don’t support nonprofits that can’t even inspire their own employees support them.
• Happy employees lead to happy “customers” – I disscuss the importance of great customer service in a previous blog
• Fearless employees will think long-term and step up – Employees who are happy and not in constant fear of losing their job will focus on the long-term benefits for the nonprofit. They will also tend to step up to challenges and take on additional work because they see it could lead to potential advancement in the organization.

These are just a few of the many examples of why you shoud be treating your nonprofit staff better. It is easy to say that employees should just be thankful for a job nowadays because the reality is there are few opportunities for them to jump ship and go to a better job. However, where will your nonprofit be when the economy improves? Will your organization have kept and hired the best talent to compete in the better economy or will you be sitting in a conference room with disgruntled left-overs with lack-luster talent?

Here are a few resources to help your nonprofit treat employees well and become a place people want to work and stay:

How to help your staff in difficult times http://tiny.cc/help953

Recognition + Appreciation = Employee Engagement http://tinyurl.com/luxqyr

Employee engagement is the key to innovation and competitiveness, says MacLeod Review http://bit.ly/rnZSc

Employee Satisfaction is Key to Company Success http://www.robinthompson.com/employeesatisfaction.htm

How Investing in Intangibles — Like Employee Satisfaction — Translates into Financial Returns http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1873

It will cost you $4,000 to replace just one $8 per hour, full-time employee http://is.gd/1sMNE

Employee satisfaction leads to customer service – Employee Relations http://bit.ly/llX7P

Opportunity Knocks Peoples Choice Best Nonprofits to Work For 2008 http://content.opportunityknocks.org/best-nonprofit-to-work-for/

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