ED Group Meeting Discusses Events and Staff Retention

The Oneida and Herkimer Nonprofit Executive Directors Group held the May 14th program at the Herkimer Area Resource Center (HARC). The meeting was attended by eleven directors, who began the meeting with introductions and announcements. As each director introduced themselves, he or she announced upcoming special events. The Group found that golf tournaments are especially popular this time of year. This discovery spurred a discussion about the need for a master planning calendar that would list the major special events that Oneida and Herkimer nonprofits were planning. The calendar would allow directors to try to avoid event conflicts. The calendar also could be a collecting point for staff training that organizations were planning. These trainings could be of interest to other nonprofits. The Group decided that developing a calendar was a good next step. More information about this calendar will be available shortly.

The remainder of the program focused on the discussion of the climate assessment survey on staff retention. The Peacemaker Program's Brenda Episcopo facilitated a discussion of the summary report (available here) and her agency's experience of implementing this survey. Glenn Beville from Hospice & Palliative Care, Inc. also spoke about his organization's employee survey conducted early last year. Glenn has provided a copy of the survey here for the Group and related the following about the survey and examining the results:

The questions are not unique. We came up with some of our own,
borrowed from the internet and got some advice from a vendor company
that had previously conducted their own employee survey. As part
of the analysis process, the team categorized the responses to the 12 write
in questions into one of the following categories:

• Communication
• Leadership
• Staffing
• Wages & Benefits
• Education
• Space
  
  We used the categories as a basis to formulate actionable solutions. The second attached document is the "report card" that we used to communicate the actionable plans to staff and periodically report progress.

The Group continued discussion about action steps based on the survey data. The two most challenging areas revealed by the survey were: Factor 7 Recognition and Reward and Factor 9 Competitive Salary. The Group discussed the challenges of these factors, and Brenda shared some of The Peacemaker Program's responses. First, the agency examined salary levels, and created an informal study (available here). This information helped The Peacemaker Program restructure staff salaries. The organization also examined different ways of recognition and reward, creating the following research list:

• job switch days (shadowing, mentoring)
• job sharing
• telecommuting
• 360 degree feedback
• Exit interviews
• Surprise “spot” recognition for a job well done
• Employee sport teams
• Include family members in agency functions
• Flexible schedules
• Employee assistance programs
• Ability to use pre-tax money for medical expenses or day care
• Random days off (personal holidays)
• Pension plans

The Peacemaker Program is continuing to examine this list for possible ideas to implement. The Group finished the program meeting with a discussion about other topic ideas and next steps. The Group discussed a follow up to this program on employee recognition and reward. Another topic idea mentioned was board retention and recruitment. The Steering Committee will be holding a follow up meeting to discuss setting the next program. Please share any additional ideas by e-mailing amarietta@ccsnys.org.

May 14th Program Participants:
Kevin Crosley, Herkimer Area Resource Center
Phyllis Spinner, Herkimer County HealthNet, Inc.
Glenn Beville, Hospice & Palliative Care, Inc.
Cornelia E. Brown, MAMI of CNY, Inc.
Lorraine Kinney-Kitchen, Mid-York Child Care Coordinating Council, Inc
Sylvia J Bunce, RCIL
Rev. Bill Dodge, Rescue Mission of Utica
Sue Casanova, Smoke-Free Mohawk Valley
Gail Miskowiec, The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter, NYSARC
Jan Squadrito, The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties
Brenda Episcopo, The Peacemaker Program, Inc.