www.missionbased.com

We want the best staff. Once we get them, we want to keep them. We don't have enough money, and can't afford the best benefit packages. What to do?

This month, we'll look at key strategies for recruiting and retaining the best employees in our nonprofits. Some of this will not be new, but I hope to point out some things that may not be on your radar. Three rules to get us started:

1. It's not about money. At least not completely about money. We all need to feed our families, make our mortgage or rent payments, pay off our school loans. So it is about money, to an extent. But over and over and over research shows that people come to nonprofits (and stay there) primarily for the mission of the organization. You'll certainly have staff who come, realize that your mission is not for them and leave, but those who stay will be passionate enough about the mission to forgo the pay they could earn in the for-profit sector. Thus, you need to keep your mission first and foremost day in and day out. Celebrate the mission, talk about its results, post the mission everywhere. Mission matters in both recruitment and retention.

2. Recruit constantly, and start early. Start with volunteers from your local high school National Honor Society, and keep in touch with the students who are exposed to your mission. Set up an internship program with your local colleges and universities and again, keep in touch. Let these young people know how great your mission is, and how amazing it is to be part of your mission team. Always be on the lookout for good people. Add a "Careers" section to your website that talks about what it's like to work for your organization, the benefits, etc. and post endorsements from current and former employees about their time with you. Offer an option on your site for people to give you their email to be informed when there are job openings.

3. For employees, it's all about growth, flexibility and being seen and heard. One of my book recommendations below is The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, by Pat Lencioni. This past year I've recommended it more than any other book. I agree with his three key parts of work satisfaction, but I add mine above. People (the best people, the ones you want to keep) want personal growth in their job, they want flexibility of work hours, location, and challenges, and they want their opinions listened to and their stories known. This is not rocket science, but it is work: leaders need to get out of their offices, get to know their staff, have leadership development for all employees, and be as flexible as possible with benefits, hours, etc.

And here's the key--each of these three things is more important the younger the workers are.

There's no question that we need the best employees, and we need to keep them as happy as we can. Good mission is not well provided by unhappy, miserable people. But remember that our mission, in and of itself, is the biggest motivator we have. Use it, talk about it, celebrate it all the time, and the best people will stay longer, perhaps for their entire career.

November, 2008 -by Peter C. Brinckerhoff