All of us, at some point in our working lives, will encounter and have to deal with difficult or irate clients. In the community and social services sector, frontline counsellors often encounter difficult clients on a regular basis. We see...
My nonprofit routinely hires the children of staff as summer students. Do you think this is ethical? Like any good ethics advisor, I often give answers of "it depends" because details matter, and I rarely have all the information. I...
When hiring a person with a disability, it is very important that human resource managers be aware of the job accommodation needs of potential employees. These job accommodation needs vary depending on the specific needs of the individual, as no...
Having worked with more than ten not-for-profit organizations as a paid staff person, and thereafter with over 50 as a consultant, I have learned valuable lessons about how to deal with difficult people (replace with members, volunteer, donors, as applicable)....
My recent column on 'supervisors from hell' struck a nerve with one reader, who writes: "You should replace the term 'boss from hell' with 'workplace bully'. There has been extensive research done on workplace bullying. If a child is a...
Having an effective board of directors is as much a part of a nonprofit organization's success as it is for a corporate organization. Board directors help to shape organizational goals and objectives. They keep the organization accountable to its members...
The director of development at the charity where I work wants to be able to tell foundations that 100% of the board and staff make a donation every year. I agree that the board members should donate, but can donating...
Today's work environment is one of change and strategic thinking. Peter Senge has captured the new requirements that face organizations in his book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization (1990). According to Senge, learning organizations...
If you look around your organization, chances are that the majority of your coworkers are women. In fact, the Canadian Policy Research Network tells us that 74.3% of nonprofit employees are female (compared to 47.5% of the total workforce in...
"I work for a large nonprofit organization where I am a health and safety committee member. There are many safety hazards in my workplace that I have brought to the attention of management and they continue to disregard the situation....
