A Human Resources Council for the nonprofit sector
Having spent 20+ years in the NP sector in Canada and overseas, I have grave doubts that yet another council will make a difference to working conditions and other HR issues.
First of all, organizations will have to be 'cluey' enough to join.
Second, the Boards will have to care about their staff and understand that they are competent and professional - not saints or folks who can't get real jobs - and be willing to establish HR policies and ensure they are followed. Policies regarding a healthy work environment, conditions for dismissal and the Board's legal responsibilities re: HR would be a help. The revolving door syndrome is a direct result of poor management at both the ED and Board levels.
Third, the idea that people who help people do so, not because they're somehow strange and do not mind being treated poorly, but because the work is satisfying and worth doing. The picture of staff as being people of the refined class with nothing else to do still remains in the minds of too many Board members. Most would not have heard of Charlotte Whitton.
After my many years (and this is my third career), I am treated even now - even after my resume has obviously lead to my hiring, even after my work has kickstarted or re-started or rescued or increased membership/funds/government relations etc. - as disposable, as is my work after I've moved on and no one else can or is willing to make the effort to carry on. The waste of resources is staggering. The fact that much of it comes from members and the good hearts of donors is too readily forgotten and I have yet to meet a Board member (and not many staff) who understand their responsibility to steward these funds as a matter of ethics. It would be interesting to see just how much money is used in the HR [Council] budget stream for hiring alone.
Of course, anyone can do this job.
-- Patricia Beurteaux
E-mail us your thoughts today at help@charityvillage.com.
