Impact of Compliance and the Mission

Nonprofit employee satisfaction ultimately impacts the ability of organizations to run ethical organizations that positively impact the recipients of services.

Nonprofit employee satisfaction in the fields of health and human services is impacted when the personal ethos of a service provider conflicts with the realities of service provision. Limited resources and increasingly bureaucratic environments can lead employees to feel overstretched and separated from the organization’s mission. Thus, in order to minimize staff turnover and ensure continuity of quality care, executive directors must strategize with middle and upper management to help everyone remain aligned with the organization’s values.

Nonprofit Employee Satisfaction Strategies

The following strategies can help to minimize the negative side-effects of increasing nonprofit compliance requirements on nonprofit employee satisfaction:

• Make sure to remind employees working in the organization about the progress you are making on your mission, and how employees are contributing to that work. Employees who feel as if they are primarily working towards reaching a set of required metrics that are not reflective of the needs of the clients become disillusioned in the field. In order for employees to feel they are providing value, they must feel like they are genuinely building relationships with clients, contributing towards community mobilization, and/or participating in or advancing the social activism that they have been called upon by their professional codes of ethics to carry out.
• Take concrete steps to create a stronger connection between employees and the mission. In a survey Capacity Building & Policy Experts, LLC, and Rider University conducted, we found  that nonprofits employ the following strategies to create a more meaningful environment for employees: 

1. Professional development opportunities/ training 

2. Standardization of practices 

3. Building stronger team relationships 

4. Workplace restructuring 

5. Building stronger support systems from the supervisor 

6. Staff coaching 

7. Stronger self-care practices 

8. Internally reconceptualizing outcome measures that exceed the standards set by funders

• Weigh the pros and cons of each new documentation or compliance requirement you are asking your employees to adopt. When employees feel that most of their time goes towards filling out paperwork instead of doing their work with patients, their discontent and dissatisfaction with the field grow immensely. Thus, the value of each new policy or procedure must be seriously considered before its adoption. This includes assessing how each change will impact the workflow and how the work of the organization will be advanced (i.e., improved quality, fundraising, mission, etc.).
• Continuously monitor how much time employees are spending on documentation and look for ways to lift resource-intensive and time-consuming obstacles. This can be achieved through the adoption of new technologies, ensuring that all equipment is working appropriately (e.g., employees are not spending 4 out  6 hours per day making photocopies instead of working with clients),  and/or redistributing work assignments to ensure a more effective workflow. 
• Use change management strategies to engage employees in the change and also to preemptively troubleshoot any possible problems with the new policy or procedure. This will minimize the complaints or problems employees may encounter and make the integration smoother.
• Audit the efficacy of the compliance systems to ensure it is not overly bureaucratic, redundant, or conflicting. It is important to assess on a periodic basis whether or not the existing systems are actually hindering or advancing the work of the organization. Thus, if the organization’s policies and procedures do not prevent, manage, and/or correct a problem, and they are not a legal mandate, they should be eliminated or modified.

These strategies will help the organization to maintain a finger on the pulse of the organization.

For a sample survey that you can use to assess the impact of compliance and employee workload on their perceptions and work satisfaction, please go to www.capacityexperts.com to sign-up for Third Sector News, our free weekly newsletter, and download this evaluation tool.