Do You REALLY Need to Replace Staff in Non-profits Right Now? [Video]

Everyone’s talking about staffing issues, hiring challenges, and HR budget concerns right now and rightfully so. For non-profits hit hard over the pandemic with staff turnover and budget reductions, a few key questions come up when planning for the next hiring sprint. Watch today’s Monday Money Moments video for more (and skim the transcript below).

(00:01): Hello, and welcome to Monday Money Moments with myself, your host, from Executive Financial Insights. Today, we are talking about staffing and I know there’s a huge issue going on in the marketplace of people leaving as well as trying to find replacements.

(00:20): So the question is (and we really have three big questions for today to talk about) do we need to replace these people? And what’s the point?

(00:31): So first I think the best thing to do is take a look at your financials, by programs. So you want to find out the revenues and expenses in each program. And the first question is, of course, is revenue the same as it was before the pandemic? Has it gone up? Has it gone down? And is that due to staffing? If it has gone up and you’ve been able to maintain program and mission accomplishment without replacing staff, you may want to consider whether or not you really need to replace them if it’s not putting too big of a burden on your existing staff.

(01:13): If it has gone down and that is a direct result of the fact that you had somebody leave, then obviously you’re going to want to replace that person. And you may be able to save a little bit of money by not bringing them in house. Maybe they can do some of their work remotely, which will save a little bit of time and travel for them as well. And it may save you on having to have somebody on site and have all the things that go with having people working in the office.

(01:47): Now, here’s the next question. Do you NEED to hire right now? Are you able to deliver programs and meet the mission without replacing staff, without bringing in new staff? Is that working well for you or have you had to cut back on some program delivery because you haven’t had staff on site?

(02:14): That’s a big one and, listen, in nonprofits, I get it. Most of our program delivery is through staffing. So we don’t want to burn out our existing staff. And we definitely want to make sure that we bring on the right people at the right time to help with program delivery going forward.

(02:33): One other question I have for you is, are your staff helping in revenue generation? Are they bringing in revenue for the organization? And if so, can any of those skills translate to existing staff so that revenue can continue to grow and programs can be delivered or again, do you need to bring in more staff to do that?

(03:00): Next question: Do you have goals set for next year for program expansion, revenue expansion, maybe even mission, meeting with new partners? You’ll need people to help bring that on as well. Or do you have staff that’s approaching retirement? Do you have succession plans in place for them? If you have people leaving, you’re going to need to bring in staff to cover those people that are leaving.

(03:34): And the last question I have for you is: are there that you can be automating so that you don’t need to bring on staff? Are there technology advancements that you can take advantage of, even up to the point of bringing in AI artificial intelligence, which can help with staff reductions. AI doesn’t take over for staff at all, but what it does do is allow you to expand the use of the staff that you have, take some of the mundane tasks off of their plate and get them utilizing their talents and their treasure, helping you meet your mission.

(04:19): I appreciate your time today. It’s been a pleasure. And if you’d like more information or resources, visit my website, www.executivefinancialinsights.com. Thank you.