This article was originally published in the Standards for Excellence® Institute series, “52 Tips in 52 Weeks” in March 2020. The series provides nonprofit leaders with a brief nonprofit governance and management tip weekly over the course of 2020. Standards for Excellence is a Replication Partner of Sacred Sector.
Editor’s Note: This article is currently being highlighted on this blog due to its relevance to the shifting work landscape created by the spread of COVID-19.
By amy coates madsen
Like so many of you, I’ve recently made the change from working in my somewhat cluttered but beloved office to working remotely all the time. I have been a regular remote worker for one day a week (or one day every other week) for a number of years. This once-a-week opportunity to slip into my home office so that I could savor the peace and quiet, getting important “thinking and writing projects” checked off the ever-present “to do” list, feels a lot different from my current full-time work from home arrangement with three kids, a barking dog, and husband all trying to get different tasks accomplished throughout the day. While I join so many others looking for the elusive quiet corner amidst the activity swirling around me, I can’t help but be grateful for my organization’s forethought regarding remote work policies.
When my organization determined that we would move our staff to full-time remote work last week in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were fortunate because we have the type of work that can be conducted online, and because we have the policies and the technology in place to accommodate such a shift. Besides double checking the laptop capability of our staff and ensuring that everyone on our team had the ability to log into virtual meetings, the logistics have, so far, been relatively seamless. Of course, having seamless logistics does not minimize the stress and uncertainty of the broader environment in which we’re living, working, and trying to stay safe and healthy.
The Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector states: “A nonprofit should have written, board-approved personnel policies and procedures that govern the work, actions, and safety of all employees and volunteers of the organization. The policies should cover the basic elements of the relationship (e.g., working conditions, telecommuting (if applicable), employee benefits, vacation, and sick leave). The policies should address orientation to the organization, employee evaluation, supervision, hiring and firing, grievance procedures, employee growth and development, and confidentiality of employee, client, and organization records and information.”
We share our sincere wishes for your continued good health and patience as we all navigate these challenging and uncertain times.
The Standards for Excellence educational packet on Personnel Policies, Employee Orientation, Compensation, and Evaluation includes a helpful Nonprofit Guide to Remote Work. The Guide provides a list of benefits, drawbacks, and concerns, roles and responsibilities of the employers and employees, travel reimbursement, a sample remote work policy, a checklist for remote work, and a sample remote work agreement.
The Standards for Excellence Institute has made their Administrative Policies Educational Packet, Guide to Remote Work, and Crisis and Disaster Planning Resources free during this time. This educational resource packet and the full series of all packets - including sample policies, tools and model procedures to help nonprofits achieve best practices in their governance and management - can be accessed by contacting a licensed Standards for Excellence replication partner, one of the over 150 Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants, or by becoming a member of the Standards for Excellence Institute.
About the Standards for Excellence® Institute
The Standards for Excellence originated as a special initiative of Maryland Nonprofits in 1998 and has since expanded into a national program to help nonprofit organizations achieve the highest benchmarks of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management and operations. The program has been formally adopted by twelve state, regional, and national affiliate organizations. It is supported by over 170 Licensed Consultants and over 100 volunteers with professional experience in nonprofit governance and administration. Since its inception, the program has accredited or recognized over 200 individual nonprofit organizations that completed a rigorous application and review process to demonstrate adherence to the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. www.standardsforexcellence.org.
Amy Coates Madsen is the director of programs for Maryland Nonprofits and the director of the Standards for Excellence Institute, a national initiative to promote the highest standards of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management, and operations, and to facilitate adherence to standards by all organizations. Amy received her Master of Arts in Policy Studies from the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies in Baltimore, Maryland, and her bachelor’s degree from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. Amy is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was appointed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to serve on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT), serving one term as the co-chair of the ACT’s Exempt Organizations subcommittee. The Standards for Excellence Institute is a program of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations where Amy has served for more than twenty-four years. Amy is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the association’s comprehensive ethics and accountability program and efforts to replicate the program nationally. She serves as a frequent trainer and writer in the areas of board conduct, program evaluation, program replication, fundraising ethics, and nonprofit management. She has taught courses on nonprofit ethics and accountability at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies Certificate Program on Nonprofit Management.