Workplaces that Work
Case Study #4: Phoenix Youth Programs
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Phoenix Youth Programs (Phoenix) is a nonprofit, community-based program located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1984, Phoenix works with at-risk and homeless youth in its extended community with a mission to break the cycle of homelessness by offering a wide range of programs and services. The organization strives to be a meaningful presence and a voice for social justice in the lives of the youth that it serves. Executive Director Timothy Crooks is responsible for the development, planning and fiscal management of the organization. Phoenix counts 52 full- and 23 part-time employees who are supported by nearly twice as many volunteers who assist with program delivery.
Crooks characterizes Phoenix as a place “with great humour led by people with a passion for working with youth.” While the organization is healthy both financially and operationally (i.e., its ability to deliver programs), it faces a number of challenges:
- Staff are pressured by an increased workload resulting from the addition of new programs and the expansion of existing ones.
- As a result of the program growth, Phoenix must also deal with the impact of a sudden, rapid increase in its overall staff complement, leaving a number of employees potentially feeling disconnected from each other and, in some instances, from the organization.
- There is increasing and ongoing competition from both the public and private sectors for a limited number of trained staff.
- Phoenix’s primary source of revenue – government funding – is allocated annually, making long-term human resources planning difficult.
Phoenix has responded to these challenges by drawing on the values it uses to develop its client programs — the organization strives to ensure that employees are managed and supported in a way that lets them know they have been heard, that they have an impact on how things are done, and that they feel appreciated and valued.
The challenges
Program growth and the impact of new staff
Phoenix is deeply connected to the community it serves - with the many facilities it operates in communities in Halifax. It is this ongoing connection to and communication with its clients and community that enable Phoenix to effectively identify new program needs.
Over the past several years Phoenix has experienced an increase in demand for programs, resulting in an expansion of existing programs as well as the addition of new ones. Additional funding for these specific programs enabled Phoenix to hire new staff. The combination of new programs and new staff has been stressful for both existing employees as well as for the newcomers. In addition to the obvious workload increase, there has also been an impact on Phoenix’s organizational culture. In the past, staffing had increased gradually, allowing time for new employees to become acclimatized to the organization. In fact, so ingrained was the Phoenix way of doing things that staff could default into short-hand conversations and decision-making while still maintaining high quality service for clients. The sudden influx of new people jolted the organization - no longer did everything go without saying. The impact prompted fears that Phoenix was about to lose the essence of the culture that had been central to its success, a culture that ensured a common approach and presence with emphasis on detailed and nuanced work with clients. The service delivery standard of the organization was second to none and Phoenix wanted to ensure that this wasn’t compromised in an effort to serve a higher number of youth.
Competition from other sectors – retention & recruitment challenges
Like other nonprofit organizations, Phoenix finds itself in the situation of looking for skilled employees in a limited pool of qualified candidates. It competes with the private and public sectors, which both offer higher salaries and better benefits. Crooks cited a recent example in which a new youth program launched out of a local hospital was recruiting for a position similar to one which exists at Phoenix, but offering up to $20,000 a year more in salary. Dollar for dollar, Phoenix is finding it impossible to compete. In addition to the challenges of finding new hires, Crooks has lost a number of employees in the last 18 months to the public sector. And Crooks doesn’t think this pattern is likely to change in the near future. “When someone buys a house or has a child, they suddenly have greater financial needs and reluctantly begin to explore other options. Or, many younger employees, once they have developed some new skills, may start looking around and gravitate to higher salary opportunities.” For better or worse, Phoenix has become a de facto training ground for other organizations who actively recruit Phoenix employees, often waiving the requirement for references.
Government funding - long standing programs funded through annual grants
More than 75% of Phoenix’s annual revenue come from government funding – approximately $2 million from the Government of Nova Scotia, and $250,000 from the federal government.* As is often the case with government funding, it must be applied for annually. While Phoenix has secured this funding in successive years, the annual application requirement, with its absence of guarantees, means the organization is challenged to engage in meaningful multi-year planning. It also creates added stress for employees, who have to spend time collecting information and generating reports for annual funding applications instead of supporting program delivery.
* Four of the organization’s eight locations have been provided as gifts-in-kind with the building and capital maintenance supplied at no charge. The market value of this and other gifts-in-kind is approximately $500,000 which is included in the $3M total overall operating budget.
How Phoenix is addressing these challenges
Empowering employees to take the lead in (re)connecting with the organization and each other
Phoenix prides itself in being innovative. It strives to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy. For example, a staff member can identify an issue, discuss it with co-workers (i.e., others who are impacted by the issue) and a decision can be made to address it without going through a series of formal meetings and approval processes. This approach has resulted in an empowered workforce that knows it has the capacity to bring about change. If a client comes to them with a problem that can be addressed through an operational change, staff know they have the ability to make that change. In fact, three of Phoenix’s current organizational priorities emerged from this commitment to empowerment:
- Program Integration – Phoenix has grown in a short period of time and the Executive Director and staff are striving to ensure that organizational silos are avoided. The Program Integration Committee brings together representatives from the core programs on a regular basis to ensure open communication between the programs and to bring forward opportunities to streamline activities by working together collaboratively.
- Anti-Oppressive Practice – This initiative represents a commitment to ensuring the culture and philosophical way of being in Phoenix is represented and taught to new staff to ensure that “everyone is singing from same song book.” This in turn enables consistency in service delivery and throughout the organization. Building on an approach known as Narrative, developed by Australian therapist Michael White, Phoenix has transformed what has traditionally been a closed-door clinical approach into a front-line service delivery model.
This innovative process has been documented by staff and was recently the subject of articles in professional journals:
“Introducing the ‘narrative construal of reality’ and the ‘club of life’” by Alison Little, Lesley Hartman and Michael Ungar was published in The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 2008, No.1, pp. 46-48.
“Narrative-Inspired Youth Care Work Within a Community Agency” by Lesley Hartman, Alison Little and Michael Ungar was published in the Journal of Systemic Therapies, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2008, pp. 44-58.“Practical Applications of narrative ideas to youth care”; A., Little, L., Hartman, M., Ungar. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, Vol 20 Number 4.
- Staff Engagement Committee (SEC) – In 2005, staff identified a need to strike a committee that would focus on increasing staff engagement and morale. Through a consultative process, five key areas were identified as top priorities: job satisfaction, professional development opportunities, influence on Phoenix [decision-making], pride in working for Phoenix, and, collaborative relationships. These have become the goals of the Staff Engagement Committee. All Committee activities are undertaken with these five goals in mind.
In 2007, its first year of operation, the SEC was given responsibility for planning Phoenix’s annual holiday lunch held in December. While the event had always been enjoyable and well-attended, SEC’s involvement meant every area of the organization had a hand in the planning. The result was an event that engaged everyone and included skits, musical performances and other activities featuring the previously-hidden talents of a variety of staff, many of whom had been with the organization a long time but had never shared these aspects of themselves. Crooks is quick to highlight the importance of the fun factor, “It is important to us that we enjoy the work we do and enjoy working with the people around us. The Staff Engagement Committee finds ways to weave fun into the work it is charged with accomplishing.” Because it is a staff-led initiative there is no need for buy-in; ownership already exists. The Committee has representation from each of the core programs with membership comprised primarily of front-line staff. A representative of the Executive Management Team and Senior Management Team is part of the core membership. The SEC’s Terms of Reference which detail the Committee’s purpose are a testament to the degree to which Phoenix is committed to its staff.
Providing dedicated HR support
While the ultimate responsibility for human resources lies with the Executive Director, the organization also has a half-time HR Coordinator. The decision to create this role arose out of a staff consultation during which employees were asked about their most urgent needs. Beyond a raise, an increase in vacation time, or other benefits, the consensus was that employees wanted a dedicated HR person to assist them with issues with which they were grappling. More than the legal aspects of the role, the HR Coordinator’s focus has been on meeting specific needs such as providing staff with information on how to effectively supervise, reviewing the exit interview process, and identifying external resources to support and/or fund professional development. The individual in the position had been with Phoenix for seven years, had a good understanding of the organization and welcomed the opportunity afforded by the new HR portfolio. She has spent a great deal of time researching resources, training opportunities and general information to enable her to assist staff. As her support of employees has increased their own ability to manage HR issues, there has been an attendant increase in the sophistication of the staff’s requests to her. As their learning has increased so too have their needs. The HR Coordinator, with Phoenix’s blessing, will soon be taking a leave of absence to obtain an HR certification from Nova Scotia Community College to enable her to better meet these needs.
Commitment to community and clients
In addition to a demonstrated dedication to its clients through the delivery of exemplary programs by committed staff, Phoenix has taken its client-support to another level. In one instance, Phoenix designed a Prevention Program (focused on school-based workshops) with the goal of hiring a former client to become part of the staffing compliment. The young woman who was hired into the position (a former Walk-In Centre client) was extremely effective and has now been hired by the Nova Scotia Community College to deliver a similar program. A number of former Phoenix clients have gone on to earn degrees in social work and are engaged in supporting others in the same way in which they had been supported.
As noted earlier, Phoenix takes pride in being a good neighbor. Its facilities – which are home to programs and shelters for at-risk and homeless youth – are part of the neighbourhood. Staff frequent local establishments and are an integral part of the community. They are vigilant and pay close attention to concerns, comments (and compliments) voiced by their neighbours regarding real or imagined issues and act immediately to address them. This has created an enormous amount of community good will towards Phoenix as local residents are able to see the value of the programs being provided through their own interaction with Phoenix clients. Staff feel valued by clients and community, and are able to experience this through direct feedback from both groups.
Value staff the way they value clients
Crooks’ overall philosophy guiding his HR management stems from the organization’s mission. In his words “When kids show up, we commit to offering them the best qualified staff person we can offer to them to meet their needs. In order to do right by our kids, we need to have highly qualified staff who are content, who want to be here and who feel valued by the organization. We do not promote 60 hour work weeks; we don’t increase the quality of life for our clients by compromising our own quality of life.” Phoenix has created HR policies which include three primary documents:
- Terms of employment (employee entitlements)
- Code of conduct (professional conduct guidelines for staff and volunteer
- Harassment and abuse policy
Phoenix’s commitment to employee health is entrenched in the Code of Conduct. The organization also invests in professional development for staff and provides ample vacation time (three weeks in the first year of employment and four weeks in the second). In addition, all programs have an official downtime. As an example, on any given day the case managers in the Walk-In Centre may see 20 clients back to back so every Friday this team has a debrief (down) time during which they can talk about their week and support each other.
Managing government funding uncertainty
Phoenix has opted for a planning strategy that makes sense in terms of its clients, its staff and the types of programs and services it offers. Despite the fact that government funding is allocated in one year increments, the organization creates multiple year strategic plans. As Crooks notes, “It can sometimes take one or two years for a program to take hold” and a strategic plan which takes into account the organization’s mission and vision will develop programs to meet these and recognize that it might take longer for some programs than others to succeed. He says, “Organizations need to be strategic in order to best serve their clients and be true to the goals they have set. However, with money coming in one year grants, some organizations may find themselves in the position of chasing the funds in order to sustain their operation. Crooks explains that the organization, supported by its Board, has become very adept at managing how much risk it is able to assume at any given time. Both Board and staff understand how the organization operates, what it has been created to achieve and what everyone’s roles and responsibilities are. This has enabled Phoenix to be able to be very nimble and to assess and make a call on new opportunities quickly and decisively.
Crooks admits Phoenix doesn’t have all the answers. The organization has tried to put into place an appropriate amount of infrastructure in terms of staff, funds, systems and process to support employees without creating a lot of bureaucracy. In terms of staff engagement and the management of funding uncertainty the organization appears to be on solid ground; however, in matters such as recruitment and retention within the context of the public and private sector ability to offer significantly higher salaries, it is hard-pressed to compete.
When asked for final comments, Crooks immediately states the following, “Number 1 - Take care of your people – they are truly your most important resource. Without them there wouldn’t be any programs or services to deliver to your community.” Equally important, he says, “Nurture your connection with the community. It is absolutely everything. In the face of all the challenges in the rest of your world, it is your connection with your community that will allow you to continue to be successful.”
For more information about Phoenix Youth Programs, please visit www.phoenixyouth.ca. For more information about the Workplaces that Work Case Study Series, please contact info@hrcouncil.ca. |
