3.1 Employee Handbook

07 May 2009

Unless you are a sole practitioner with absolutely no employees or freelance assistant, you need an employee handbook. A written employee handbook communicates your Organisations employment policies and procedures clearly and effectively. It also helps to ensure that all procedures comply with employment law. The contents of an employee handbook should address every major aspect of employment with the organisation. It is designed to explain the organisation's rules, policies, procedures and benefits. Ideally, your handbook should be more than a compilation of rules and regulations that your employees must live by in the workplace. It should also contain information on the organisation's background, its mission statement and its corporate goals and values.

Top Reasons every Organisation should have an Employee Handbook

They will help you and your managerial staff save time. Formal policies help cut down on answering the same questions over and over again.
It is a way to document expectations and obligations of management and staff.
Written policies create uniformity and help prevent disputes.
Spending time thinking about the messages you want the employees to have regarding your business, and distributing those messages can improve leadership, and help keep the business on track with its mission.
Written policies, consistently enforced, can help avoid legal disputes later on down the road.
A handbook or other written policies are also a good way to communicate information the business is legally obligated to provide anyway.

A template of an Employee Handbook is set out below. The specimen documents outlined in this section will need to be adapted in accordance with the requirements of each individual organisation. We recommend that organisations consult widely with employees in the creation of their own unique handbook which is why the specimen document watermark has been inserted.

Template source: www.erb.ie
(Employer Resource Bureau for the Community Sector)

The Role of the Secretary

A Secretary usually has numerous roles to play in the running of an NGB. They include the following:

Arranging meetings
Minutes of meetings
Correspondence

Arranging Meetings: The Secretary should plan the meeting with the Chairperson. The first task is to draw up an agenda, checking the minutes of the previous meeting to see if there are issues that need to be reviewed. Every person in the organisation can ask for an item to be added to the agenda. Once the agenda is set and is distributed to the members, the Secretary will need to perform other duties such as book a room, get equipment, organise child care or transport.

Minutes of Meetings: Minutes are a record of what happens at a meeting. Minutes show what was decided, why it was decided, what was discussed and what actions are to be taken (by whom and when). It is very important that if the Secretary does not understand the discussion, they should seek clarification in order to allow the minutes to be clear. During the meeting, the Secretary will take rough notes on what transpired and will then formally write them up after the meeting. If between the end of the meeting and the writing up of the minutes, a situation in the minutes has changed, the minutes must not be changed. They must always reflect exactly what was said at the meeting.

Correspondence: The Secretary usually receives correspondence for the organisation. This could be in the form or letters, phone calls, e-mails or any other communication from outside agencies or individuals. The Secretary should respond to this correspondence and then file it away in an orderly place for safe keeping and record.

The Role of the Chairperson

The role of the Chairperson involves two particular areas of the NGB:

Facilitating Committee Meetings
Leading the Organisation

Facilitating Committee Meetings: The Chairperson is responsible for the planning and running of committee meetings as well as encouraging the full participation of other committee members. They must have good knowledge of the format of the meeting and good interpersonal skills.

Leading the Organisation: Leading involves having an overall view of the work, acting as a spokesperson, making emergency decision between meetings, supporting all members of the organisation in their roles, representing the organisation externally and guiding the organisation's functions according to their strategy/policy. It is essential that the Chairperson knows and understands the group's constitution, it's aims and objectives, it's financial situation and any current issues.

The Role of the Treasurer

The role of the treasurer can be broken down into five areas:

General Financial Management
Funding - Fundraising and Grants
Financial Planning and Budgeting
Financial Reporting
Banking, Bookkeeping and Recordkeeping

General Financial Management: This involves keeping up to date records of income and expenditure on an on-going basis, ensuring that funders money is used for the area it was applied for and preparing and presenting accounts for the AGM.

Funding/Fundraising and Grants: Funding for an NGB usually comes from one or two sources - fundraising and grants. The Treasurer is responsible for looking after both of these features with duties such as completing and submitting funding applications, co-ordinating fundraising activities and generally being the contact person regarding funding and grants for the organisation.

Financial Planning and Budgeting: Budgeting involves presenting future expenditure for a fixed period in a financial plan. Financial planning involves preparing budgets for regular and predictable expenditure in advance. The Treasurer has the responsibility of advising on these.

Financial Reporting: This involves preparing a report to bring to the committee meeting and presenting a draft copy of the audited accounts at the committee meeting preceding the AGM.

Banking, Bookkeeping and Recordkeeping: This involves advising the committee on banking options, dealing with banks on behalf of the organisation, paying in and withdrawing money, dealing with bills and having a system of recording the flow of money including petty cash.

The Role of a Member of a Committee

An organisation's Committee Members have overall responsibility for making decisions about an organisation and its work normally rests with the Committee. They are responsible for the governance of the organisation.

Expectations of members of a Committee

Be willing to devote the necessary time and effort
Understand and accept the responsibilities of the Committee
Be willing to take on pieces of work as and when needed
Be familiar with the aims, objectives, policies and procedures of the organisation

Management Committee

Making strategic and major decisions about the organisations objectives, policies and procedures
Representing the needs and interests of relevant people when making decisions
Ensuring that the organisation has appropriate legal structures
Making sure that the Committee has the skills, ability and representation to do the job
Assuring that members get the training they need
Representing the organisation to outside groups

The Role of a Public Relations Officer

The Public Relations Officer is the media contact person for your organisation. They are the person responsible for managing the flow of information between an organisation and its public. Common duties for a Public Relations Officer include speaking at conferences, working with the press and employee communication.

Qualities of a Public Relations Officer

Be a clear and concise communicator (both verbally and in writing)
Have excellent language skills
Have the ability to persuade and build rapport instantly
Be good at research and analysis
Be contactable at the agreed times
Be computer literate (as much of the communication is through email and faxes)

Recruitment and Selection Procedures

Job Description

Draw up job description and forward to HR Consultant for re-structuring and formatting. You should ensure that the job description is as detailed as required, identifying the responsibilities of the position and the degree and level of experience and the skills required to deliver on the job. At the end of this chapter you will find sample job descriptions for various roles within an organisation.

Advertisement

It is important that your advertisement clearly outlines

Qualification required i.e. Masters, degree, etc
Experience required, i.e. nature of experience and desirable depth of knowledge, management experience, etc
Requirements i.e. IT skills, etc

The use of submitting an application form rather than a CV has proven very beneficial. An application form allows you to ask questions relevant to the position and offers applicants an opportunity to justify why their qualification and experience is relevant to the post. You can receive a more overall view of the applicant using an application form and it can assist greatly with identifying a potential interviewee during the short-listing process.

Short List Process

This takes place in consultation with HR Consultant. The aim is to short-list 6/7 suitable candidates for interview.
Generally a discussion takes place to ascertain the minimum requirements for the post. What are the minimum essential requirements.

Stage 1: Qualification: Applicants who have not met the qualifications required are generally the first group to be eliminated.
Stage 2: Experience: This section is very important as it must be determined if the experience criteria has been met.
Stage 3: If the applicant has passed Stage 1 and Stage 2, the remainder of the application form must be considered in order to select the most suitable applicants for interview.

It can be very beneficial to develop a simple scoring process against each criteria in the application form and to use this to identify the most suitable candidates to call for interview. It is important to include something on the rationale for the scores awarded as applicants can query why they were not successful at this point in the process.

Development of Interview Questions

A list of key questions is identified specific to the position for the interview process. It is important to identify the skills required for success in the position. This is driven by the job description. Besides the knowledge and experience required, what other skills are necessary? For example planning and organising, team work, negotiating. Once this has been agreed it is important to identify questions that will determine each candidates skill levels in each of these headings. It is important to agree what are the kind of behaviours that they have displayed in the past that might indicate they would be successful in this role.

What you are looking for is a list of questions that will allow you to determine whether the candidate can provide evidence of these skills through examples of behaviours or can factually identify they have completed a course etc...or had specific experience etc...

The same questions should be put to each candidate to ensure fairness in the process.

Formation of Interview Panel

Identify individuals to form the interview panel. An interview panel should consist of:

CEO of NGB
HR Consultant
Irish Sports Council Representative
An individual from outside the Governing Body (an expert in the particular field)
A Governing Body Representative (if relevant) e.g. Manager of a Department or Officer of an Executive Committee

All applicants receive a 'Successful' or 'Non-successful' Interview letter.

Interview Process

The Interview Panel should meet prior to the date of interviews. If the panel is unable to meet, the interview questions should be forwarded to the panel at least one week in advance of the date and meet 1 hour prior to first interview. Typically a chair of the panel is agreed who is responsible for running the interview smoothly, timing and managing all accompanying documentation.

When the Panel meets the list of questions is discussed. Each interviewer is assigned a Heading from which they select one to two questions. The panel agrees a marking scheme for each of the skill areas under examination. The highest marks will be allotted to the most important heading based on its relevance to the position. Two or three headings may be given equal importance.

Following each interview, the panel discusses the candidate's performance against each heading and agrees a mark, tallying into a Total Mark which will determine their final position. Once again it is very important to agree and record the rationale around each mark awarded. In addition an overall cut off mark should be agreed that below which disqualifies a candidate. For example if the potential total score is 100, successful candidates must score 70 or higher.

Also it is necessary to agree if a candidate does not receive a sufficiently high score in certain criteria/heading they would also not be deemed suitable for appointment.

A useful addition to the interview process depending on the nature of the position is to ask candidates to make a short presentation on a relevant topic for the job. This presentation should have its own marking scheme to identify how well each candidate performs and this is added to the overall marking scheme.

Documentation

In recording information relating to the interview, particularly the overall summary of the candidate, it is important to ensure:

That the assessment relates to the established criteria for the job.
That the reasons for recommending/not recommending the candidate are fully identified on the documentation.
The panel's decisions have not been influenced by any of the defined equality areas

Panel members should be encouraged to take notes during an interview and those notes should reflect the answers provided by the candidate and not personal comments and observations. Those notes should be collected along with the official documentation at the end of the interview. All panel members should sign the appropriate documentation at the end of the interviews. All interview records and notes should be kept for at least a year/two years in the event of a claim.

Interview Follow up

Someone from the organisation will call the successful candidate to offer the position and arrange a meeting to discuss the contract details, etc. If first candidate accepts the position, all other candidates receive a 'Non-successful' letter.

Avoiding and Resolving Problems

Team Leadership

All organisations, big or small, need to have a central person to report to. This ensures that there is a way of keeping communication flowing, that there is accountability for everyone, that there is someone to inspire the others, that there is someone who has a vision for the organisation and that there is someone there to make a tough decision when it is needed.

Absenteeism

How do you manage a situation where, in a voluntary organisation, people are giving up their time for free and then, when they are supposed to be working they don't turn up? How do you handle this when it occurs on a regular basis? It is a situation that requires a delicate balance between being sensitive to the volunteer and discipline to the organisation's needs.

The person (or sub-committee) who is responsible for the work of volunteers, needs to be informed of all absences and then make a decision to meet with the absentee. The following format can be used as a basis for that meeting:

Ask the person to meet you at a place and time that would suit them.
Explain you realise they have been absent (but do not quantify it).
Acknowledge their contribution to the organisation and ask them about ways in which they could still volunteer themselves but in a way that is more convenient to them e.g. rescheduling the time that they give.
While acknowledging their contribution, explain that it is necessary for the organisation to be able to rely on the people that volunteer as they have to be able to deliver the services that they provide.
Allow the person time to digest what you have said (if they felt defensive coming into the meeting, they are now having to recalibrate their feelings and thoughts).
If they are still feeling defensive, allow them to speak without interruption.
Do not feel that you have to provide a solution.
Ask questions to ensure you clearly understand what was said.
If the problems they describe to you are internal to the organisation (conflict with another volunteer or someone on the committee) acknowledge the issue and explain you will need to speak to other members to decide the next course of action.
If the issues they describe to you are personal, (external to the organisation), ask what, if anything, the organisation can do to support them. Acknowledge their contribution again and ask if they may need some time off to sort through their issues.
Finish by asking them how they feel now.

If the reasons they have been absent do not fit into the above scenario, refer to your volunteer agreement and talk through the agreement. Check if the volunteer is looking for an 'out' or perhaps your organisation needs to let them go.

Letting a Volunteer Go

There could be a number of reasons why you would decide to let a volunteer go. Below are a few of the more common reasons:

Conduct - reliability, dependability, honesty, sobriety, time keeping
Performance - quality and/or quantity
Economic - if they are working on a project and there are not sufficient funds to continue the project.

It is never easy when you have to ask a person to leave your organisation, but it can be made easier if you have a policy or procedure to follow. It might be an idea to have a written policy on the topic, keeping in mind the following suggestions:

Never confront someone when you are angry or upset.
Organise a meeting with the person.
Prepare what you are going to say and then stay on track
Have a third person in the room, preferably the same sex as the person being asked to leave. This person is a witness and is not involved in the conversation.
Focus on the issues around the persons performance - not the person.
Discuss other possible volunteering jobs.
Inform the other volunteers before the issue becomes gossip, accepting that due to confidentially, you cannot give details.

Conflict Resolution

It is always important to have a policy around procedures to take when conflict arises in an organisation. This ensures that everyone is treated in an equal and fair manner. Quite often, the best scenario to deal with conflict between two people is to structure a meeting with both parties plus an independent arbitrator. The arbitrator could be someone already involved in the organisation or it could even be someone from outside the organisation.

In this case, the arbitrator would have pre-meetings with both parties individually before they each meet to ask them to put forward their point of view and to ask them what can, in their view, be done to resolve the issue. When the actual meeting with both parties and the arbitrator takes place, each person with the grievance will, in turn, put forward their point of view and idea for resolution. When this is done, the other party will be asked for any refutation and idea for resolution. This will continue until both parties can agree to some sort of compromise to finally resolve the issue and move forward. If there is a situation where no compromise can be reached and it is not resolvable, further action will need to be taken. Such further action might include involving the local community development organisation to facilitate or perhaps letting go one or both of the people who are in conflict.

In order for conflict resolution to work all parties must:

Want to find a solution
Be willing to talk rationally to each other
Be willing to listen to each other
Be willing to explore a range of solutions, not just their own
Be willing to accept a solution even if it does not meet all their needs and wants

Problem Solving

Problems are a part of life that we deal with everyday. Every person and organisation will have to face (and solve) problems when they arise. There are a number of different theories regarding how to solve a particular problem, which theory you choose to follow will ultimately depend on the type of problem that you have.

However, when faced with a problem, there are a number of questions that you should ask yourself which will help you to define the problem. The reason for this is that it is a common mistake to focus on the effect of the problem rather than the cause of the problem. An example of this would be that if you continually have volunteers resigning, are you focusing on the fact that you don't have enough volunteers to run the service or are you going to focus on why the volunteers keep leaving?

Questions to ask yourself are:

What is the problem?
How is it a problem?
Why is it a problem?
Why solve it?
How will it be solved?
What will be solved?

Bullying and Harassment

Bullying is defined as repeated inappropriate behaviour direct or indirect, verbal, physical or otherwise. The conduct complained of must be such that it could reasonably be considered as undermining the employee's right to dignity. Harassment refers to behaviour which is intended to disturb or upset or which is found to be threatening or disturbing by the victim. Both bullying and harassment are not acceptable and it is very important that an organisation works quickly to get rid of it if it eventuates.