How Hybrid Work Models Are Impacting Nonprofit Organizations

Guest post by Jill Krumholz, Managing Partner at RealHR

In the rapidly evolving work landscape, hybrid work has become an increasingly popular option for companies seeking to retain elements of the traditional workplace while incorporating the flexibility and adaptability of remote work that many workers and employers have come to expect over the past several years. 

The hybrid model requires any business to rethink everything from floor plans to budgets to management styles, but hybrid work offers mission-driven organizations particularly unique opportunities and challenges. 

The Shift to Hybrid Work 

Like many organizations, nonprofits have undergone a transformative shift in organizing their workplaces and workforces. Technological developments had begun to drive an increase in remote work even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, over the last several years, necessity has accelerated that shift and forced employers to embrace creative, often personalized solutions to the issues of where and when people get their work done. 

This was a bumpy road for many, but as systems were developed and technologies improved, employers and employees realized that workplaces could be designed to allow for greater flexibility and accommodate employee needs without compromising productivity. 

In light of the easing pandemic restrictions, many nonprofits are contemplating a “new normal.” Many seek to revert to the traditional on-site setup while still embracing the advantages of remote work, benefiting both employees and employers. The hybrid work model aims to blend on-site and remote workdays, offering flexibility while nurturing teamwork and structure found in shared physical workspaces. This new model brings benefits, opportunities, and challenges to nonprofit organizations.

Positive Impacts of Hybrid Work on Nonprofits 

Employee Satisfaction and Retention 

Offering flexibility in work arrangements positively impacts employee satisfaction and retention rates, which in turn affect a nonprofit’s ability to deliver its mission. Hybrid work can allow nonprofit employees to better balance their professional and personal lives and resolve conflicts between work and other priorities. At the same time, requiring a degree of in-office time can help resolve issues of disengagement, burnout, and isolation that some fully remote workers grapple with. Hybrid work also allows nonprofits to prioritize the well-being of their staff to create a more loyal and engaged workforce; in addition, it’s a lower-cost benefit that budget-limited organizations can use to attract new talent.

Access to a Broader Talent Pool

Geographic constraints are diminished in a hybrid work environment, enabling nonprofits to tap into a more diverse talent pool and reach passionate potential team members across a wider geographic area. 

While fully remote jobs offer the greatest flexibility in this respect, hybrid jobs that only require employees to commute once or twice a week can appeal to candidates who live outside a daily commuting distance. This increased access to skilled individuals can enhance the organization's capabilities and effectiveness.

Cost Savings and Resource Allocation 

The hybrid model brings about cost efficiencies for nonprofits by reducing office space and facility expenses. 

Perhaps your organization only requires employees to come in for weekly meetings or collaborative working sessions; in that case, permanent individual offices or cubicles can be replaced with meeting spaces or open-plan work areas. 

These savings can be redirected toward supporting the organization's core mission and programs. Additionally, the flexibility of hybrid work as a lower-cost, high-impact benefit is an asset to budget-conscious nonprofits who prioritize employees through thoughtful, effective compensation and benefits.

Challenges for Nonprofits in the Hybrid Work Model 

Maintaining Organizational Culture

Nonprofits often thrive on a strong sense of community and shared values. Maintaining this culture becomes challenging in a remote or hybrid work setting with limited physical interactions. While some roles readily lend themselves to remote work, others inherently require a physical presence, such as those involving direct community engagement or constituent services. 

This may result in closer relationships within particular groups of employees, and care should be taken to prevent an us-and-them mentality from developing. Team building is an ongoing process for organizations with these kinds of splits. Time spent on-site should be used for bonding and working to keep staff on the same page, invested in each other and the organization. Maintaining culture is a large and important task with which managers, and even leadership, may need guidance.

Furthermore, the dichotomy between on-site, remote, or hybrid jobs amplifies the need for nuanced policies and practices tailored to different positions within an organization. An experienced HR consulting firm can assist in creating successful hybrid work strategies and supporting their implementation.

Communication and Collaboration Challenges

Effective communication becomes more crucial than ever in a hybrid work model—for the creation of a strong culture but also for doing the work of the organization itself. 

Nonprofits must find innovative ways to foster collaboration and ensure that team members remain connected and engaged. This exciting challenge can drive organizational growth, but it also requires real effort and adaptability on the part of leadership and management. Striking a balance between enough communication and excessive meetings, messages, and touchpoints will take ongoing attention from management and a collaborative spirit throughout the organization.

Technology Gaps and Security Concerns

Nonprofits need to invest in robust technology infrastructure to support remote work. While remote-collaborative technology has grown by leaps and bounds in the past several years, work styles must still be adapted to these new platforms, and the learning curves and support needs of employees adopting new systems will vary. 

Additionally, cybersecurity becomes a critical consideration to protect sensitive donor data and maintain the integrity of operations. IT departments must step up as critical partners to other teams across their organization, not only in developing and implementing nonprofits’ technology strategies but in providing timely, appropriate assistance to employees in and out of the office.

4 Strategies for Optimizing Hybrid Work in Nonprofits 

To make the most of the hybrid work model, nonprofits can focus on the following strategies:

1. Implementing effective communication models. Utilize a combination of virtual communication tools to facilitate seamless collaboration and maintain open lines of communication.

2. Investing in technology and training. Prioritize technology investments and provide training to ensure that employees are equipped with the skills needed for successful remote work.

3. Prioritizing mental health and well-being. Incorporate initiatives that prioritize mental health, such as virtual wellness programs and flexible schedules, to support the overall well-being of nonprofit staff.

4. Balancing remote and in-person collaboration. Strive for a balance between remote work and in-person collaboration, recognizing the importance of face-to-face interactions for team cohesion.

---

The impact of hybrid work on nonprofit organizations is multifaceted, bringing both opportunities and challenges. 

Successfully adopting a hybrid work model at your nonprofit may unearth areas for improvement or gaps in knowledge or strategy, posing challenges and opportunities for growth and innovation. By continuously evaluating and refining their approaches, nonprofit organizations can harness the benefits of hybrid work to further their missions and create lasting social impact.

Jill Krumholz, Managing Partner

Jill brings to RealHR Solutions experience as a business owner, executive search consultant and corporate HR professional. Throughout her career, she has had the ability to build strong relationships, identify client needs and help company’s find solutions. As a search professional she used these strengths to source and identify talent. Before joining RealHR, Jill was a Principal at Charleston Partners, a global executive search and talent advisory firm for Fortune 500 companies. She was also a Partner at Hayden Resource and previously founded her own search firm. Her prior HR experience includes retail and healthcare industry HR and operations. management positions. Jill holds a Masters in Industrial Social Work from Fordham University and a B.A. from CUNY City College. She is currently an active member of The Society of Human Resources Management nationally and locally. 

The preceding post was provided by a guest author unaffiliated with DonationMatch. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of DonationMatch.

Nonprofit HR: A Beginner’s Guide to The Basics

Guest post by Astron Solutions

Whether you’re new to the nonprofit world and just getting ready to hire your first staff members, or yours is a well-established organization with a large team of employees, you know that your internal team is what powers your mission. 

And while you wear a number of different hats as a nonprofit leader, one of the most important is being an employer. This is because effectively managing your human resources (HR) is imperative for providing a great employee experience and, consequently, having a well-run organization that is able to meet your beneficiaries’ needs and further your cause. 

In this beginner’s guide, we’ll walk you through the basics of nonprofit HR and help you prepare to level up your nonprofit’s HR strategy. Let’s begin! 

Do Nonprofits Even Need HR? 

Yes, nonprofits do need to have HR practices and policies in place. Even though the setup and tax landscape for your organization looks different from that of a for-profit company, and you raise money for a specific cause instead of selling goods or services to customers, you have one big thing in common: just like a company, your nonprofit is an organization with employees. 

According to Astron Solutions, this means your nonprofit must comply with any applicable employment regulations or policies, which makes having a strong HR strategy in place critical. In addition to complying with the law, an HR strategy also empowers you to keep your employees’ needs top-of-mind, which can positively impact your recruitment and retention efforts. 

There are a number of unique challenges that your nonprofit will face as an employer, including: 

• The mission-driven nature of your organization. In a for-profit organization, the focus is on pulling in revenue, and HR helps to support the organization’s efficiency and profitability. But for nonprofits, your mission is at the heart of everything you do, and it can be much more challenging to tie all of your HR efforts to that mission. 

• Limited resources for HR work and compensation and benefits. Many nonprofits find it difficult to make time for HR responsibilities and to have enough in the budget to put toward employee compensation and benefits. This makes it hard to compete with for-profit organizations for talent. A popular approach to tackle this challenge is to emphasize total rewards in your compensation strategy, where you focus on both direct and indirect forms of compensation. 

• Complex staffing needs. Many nonprofits turn to grants to help fund specific programs or projects. These sometimes leave nonprofit organizations more limited in how they schedule and staff different initiatives as they meet the requirements of funders and work on tighter budgets and stricter timelines. 

In addition to considering your employees’ needs and the challenges your organization is faced with as an employer, think about how a strong HR strategy can empower you to do more for your mission. When you have the policies and practices in place to optimize the employee experience, your employees will be satisfied in their jobs, and your team will be in a position to do more for your beneficiaries.

HR Responsibilities for Nonprofits 

If your nonprofit doesn’t currently have the resources to support an entire HR department or hire an HR professional, consider planning ahead to hire an expert in the near future. For the time being, you could outsource your HR needs or work with a consultant. 

Regardless of what HR looks like at your organization, here are the responsibilities that your HR professional will need to take on:

• Talent management. From writing eye-catching job descriptions to hiring the right candidates to onboarding and engaging employees, there’s a lot that goes into the employee lifecycle. Your HR team will develop the strategies your organization needs to find great employees and retain them. 

• Compensation strategy. Compensation will greatly affect your organization’s ability to attract, hire, and retain top talent. Take a total rewards approach to make the most of limited resources, and ensure that you have a strong communication strategy in place to ensure that your employees understand how performance impacts pay and how they can advance their careers at your nonprofit. 

• Compliance, documentation, payroll, and tax reporting. One of the most important things your HR team will help your organization manage is avoiding risk and documenting and maintaining compliance with all employment regulations, such as employee classification. Your HR team also may be in charge of payroll or be involved in submitting your 990 form to the IRS, though these responsibilities often fall to financial professionals. 

• Culture building. Internal culture plays a big role in how satisfied employees are with their jobs, and your HR team will take on the task of developing a positive, collaborative culture within your organization. For example, your HR team may implement an employee recognition program, lead trainings in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), or promote a healthy work-life balance. 

• Volunteer management. While larger nonprofits usually have a dedicated volunteer coordinator or program manager, your nonprofit may be in the position where your HR team manages your volunteers, helping to recruit and retain individuals for your program and ensure they have a positive experience working with you. 

While your HR team will be primarily responsible for managing all of these different tasks, remember that it will take a concerted effort by everyone at your organization to make your nonprofit a great place to work and to keep it that way!

3 Best Practices for Stronger HR Management at Your Nonprofit

Whether you’re getting started with HR responsibilities for the first time or you’re fine-tuning your current strategy, there are three best practices you can leverage to take your efforts to the next level: 

1. Partner with an HR consultant. Whether or not your organization has a full HR department, a nonprofit HR consultant can be a valuable partner for improving your HR strategy. These experts can take a critical look at your existing HR structures and policies and give you tailored recommendations for how to improve, whether you need assistance with your compensation strategy, employee communication efforts, or another aspect of HR. 

2. Prioritize employee engagement and health. Double the Donation suggests providing opportunities for continued learning and career development, giving employees meaningful and challenging work, and celebrating milestones and special occasions. You also can champion mental and emotional well-being by doing things like encouraging employees to use their PTO, holding seminars on the importance of self-care, or leading weekly meditation sessions. 

3. Solicit employee feedback. HR is all about focusing on the people who make your nonprofit’s work possible. So, if you’re wondering how your employees feel about a certain policy or initiative, don’t hesitate to ask them. Collect feedback in meetings with employees or through anonymous surveys. Then, ensure you’re acting on that feedback to make your HR strategy even more effective. 

Another general best practice is to be open and transparent with your employees and to encourage two-way communication. This will help employees develop trust in and loyalty to your organization, which will lead to better retention rates and better outcomes for your cause. 

---

Just like their for-profit counterparts, nonprofit organizations need HR policies and practices in place to ensure they’re being the best employers they can be. Use the tips in this beginner’s guide to kickstart or strengthen your HR strategy, and remember that you can always turn to an expert consultant for assistance. 

The preceding post was provided by a guest author unaffiliated with DonationMatch. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of DonationMatch.