You are browsing: Workplace Policies
Ask Rita in HR: How Do I Stay ADA Compliant When an Employee Has a Disability?
Dear Rita in HR: One of our employees recently disclosed a medical condition that limits his ability to perform some of his duties. His manager wanted to fire him because he can no longer perform his job, but I don’t think we can do that. I handle acco …
Can We Fire Someone for What They Said in Personal Email?
Dear Rita in HR: We recently discovered that an employee is shopping online at work and is signed on to social media sites such as Facebook for about 3 hours per day. We don’t know if she merely views it for a moment and then leaves it open or if she i …
Outdated Job Description May be Getting Us in Trouble
Dear Rita: Help! I’m the executive director of a nonprofit with 35 employees. Recently, one of our employees said he can’t drive anymore due to vision problems. It’s his job to drive to different client sites to provide training . . . we serve a rural …
If You Give a Board Treasurer A Cookie . . .
Blue Avocado columnist Vu Le inspires us again with his ideas for nonprofit-themed children’s books. We should all be writing some! Today, I want to talk about children’s books. I am so sick of these children’s books that my one-year-old …
How to Deal with an Office Bully
Dear Rita: I have a really awful co-worker — Gossip Greta — who is making me miserable. She goes out of her way to be rude to me and badmouths me behind my back. Once I made a minor mistake and she started yelling at me, calling me “stupid” and “inco …
Twelve Ways to Get a New Executive Director Off on the Right Foot
When a new executive is hired, the board usually breathes a huge sigh of relief. They have likely been working extra hard for weeks or months interviewing candidates or taking on additional tasks, such as managing a fundraising event or overseein …
Coming Out as a Christian
Kim Klein is a legendary speaker on fundraising, taxes, social justice, and community-building. She is well-known as a leftist and open about being a lesbian. Here she comes out in a different way:Recently I shocked some colleagues whom I like a lot. T …
What’s the Right Size for the Board?
Dear Blue Avocado: We have 18 board members, but we are wondering if we should try to keep such a large board. At our upcoming board and senior staff retreat we will be discussing what size our board should be to be most effective. Help!! …
Evaluating the Executive Director
Are you sighing just from having read the title of this article? Why does this topic make us all feel so tired?Virtually everyone agrees that boards should conduct performance reviews of executive directors (EDs or CEOs). Even so, the predominant pract …
Accounting Procedures Manual Template
Has “Create an Accounting Procedures Manual” been on your To Do list for several months now? For several years? You aren’t alone. We often stumble on this task for two, curiously contradictory reasons: Creating an Accounting Procedures Manua …
