Questions about employment law, HR policies, staff performance and retention, and recruiting, managing and motivating volunteers.
How do we manage and motivate volunteers effectively?
We go through cycles where we have loads of enthusiastic volunteers and then they gradually drop off. We had a big intake at the start of the year and we're already seeing numbers fall. I don't think it's the cause — people seem genuinely interested — but I wonder if we're not giving them a […]
Do volunteers have the same legal rights as employees in T&T?
We rely heavily on volunteers — probably 20 regular volunteers who give a serious amount of time. I've always assumed that because they're not paid we don't really have any legal obligations towards them. But someone recently mentioned that if a volunteer got injured at one of our activities we could be in serious trouble. […]
Do CSOs need to comply with T&T labour laws even though we’re non-profit?
We've always kind of assumed that because we're a non-profit we have a bit more flexibility with employment stuff — like if we can't afford to meet every single requirement at least people would understand. But someone recently told me that's not how it works and we're fully subject to all the normal labour laws […]
How should we approach performance management for our small staff team?
We have four staff members and I'm the ED. We do annual reviews but they always feel awkward and nothing really changes as a result. I write something up, we have a chat, everyone says things are fine, and we carry on exactly as before. I know this isn't good practice but I'm not sure […]
What are the minimum policies an HR function in a CSO should have?
We're a team of six and we've been going about four years. We have a basic staff handbook from when we started but it's very thin — leave entitlements, a bit about conduct, that's about it. We're about to take on new staff for the first time in a while and it's made me realise […]
How do we retain good staff when we can’t compete with private sector salaries?
We keep losing our best people to better-paying jobs in the private sector. Last year we lost two programme officers within a few months of each other. We genuinely cannot match the salaries but I know there must be other things we can do. We've tried talking about mission and impact but that only goes […]