Returning employees to the workplace during and after the COVID-19 pandemic will not be as simple as announcing a reopening or return-to-the-workplace date, and carrying on business as usual. Not only will many nonprofit workplaces be altered initially, some changes may be long term, even beyond the imagined “finish line” of a widely available vaccine or treatment. The details of each nonprofit employer’s plan to return will look different, but there are 10 key issues most will need to understand and starting preparing for now. 1. Workplace Safety Employers must ensure their workplaces are as safe as they can be. Employees and customers alike may have fears of returning to business as usual; preparing for and communicating how safety is a top priority will allay fears and increase brand loyalty. Safety measures might include: Implementing employee health screening procedures. Developing an exposure-response plan conducive with CDC guidelines, including: Isolation, containment, and contact tracking procedures. Stay-at-home requirements. Exposure communications to affected staff. Providing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as: Masks, gloves, face shield, etc. Personal hand sanitizer. Detailing cleaning procedure and procuring ongoing supplies. Establishing physical distancing measures within the workplace: Staggered shifts and lunch/rest breaks. Rotating weeks in the office…

COVID-19 is reshaping nonprofits nationwide, particularly in staff management. Driven by urgency and necessity, organization are exploring and implementing staffing strategies for survival, recovery, renewal, and growth. To examine how nonprofits are dealing with staffing issues as they head into late 2020, PNP Staffing Group conducted a survey of a wide range of organizations to ask about action steps nonprofits are taking at this time. Because the good work of nonprofits is performed by people, PNP’s focus in the survey was on staff changes and challenges brought about by the pandemic. The survey reflects the ways in which organizations are acting on new and innovative uses of technology, developing different kinds of training programs for staff, and creatively re-writing policies, practices and procedures for talent management. Nonprofits are clearly not expecting an eventual return to the way things were. New ways of working, necessitated by the effects of COVID-19, are being put in place and will continue to evolve as organizations rebuild. For mission-driven organizations, the pandemic has caused, and is continuing to drive, significantly different approaches to staff management. The challenges for nonprofit organizations, going forward, center on how best to do their vital work, differently. Download the executive…