Is It Right for an NGO's HR to Be Run by the Board? How Can Employees Change This?

Hi all,

I would like you to share your ideas with me on the picture I'm going to relate to you.

In this NGO, the HR Department has been established in a way that it is being handled by the members of the board of directors of this NGO. It is not within the office, and there are no employees involved. Whenever there is a need for sorting policy issues or complaints from the employees, or whatever relates to labor practices, it is the director who handles those matters in his way, not basing anything on any policy. Whenever it is beyond his control, he calls the HR board of directors. He is the only person who meets with the board; some of the employees did not even know the members of the board.

Whenever the employees have matters to be addressed by the HR department, they have to go to the director for him to meet with the board and come back with the report of their decision. So, my question is, "Is it proper for an NGO to operate like that? Is there anything these employees must do to change the situation? Please help.

Hello,

This is not the right or systematic way to handle employee issues, whether in an NGO or an IT company. It can be beneficial to have an exclusive HR specialist for resolving such issues. Not everyone can wait or depend on just one person for that. If the NGO is large enough to have a separate HR department, they could consider hiring a person with 3-4 years of experience. Alternatively, they could nominate 2 or 3 individuals within the NGO to take on the additional responsibility. Another approach could involve a system-level interaction where individuals can send their queries or issues via email, and one person can address them. If an issue remains unresolved after 5 days, it could automatically escalate to the director or the Board of Directors.

Thank you.

Hi,

In small NGOs, normally there is no HR department, but if it is large enough, then it must have an HR person to handle the employees' issues. I also worked with an NGO that had its HR department totally separate.

Hi All,

No organization should have operations like that. If an NGO is too small to hire a separate HR person or have a separate HR department, the NGO can combine the work of Admin and HR under the supervision of any senior manager. The Board should be involved only once there is a policy change on any strategic areas.

I am also working in an NGO with only 16 employees. We don't have a specific HR position, but the admin officer takes care of small daily issues like attendance, leave, personnel files, etc. Suggestions for policy changes are made by another person who has an MBA in HR but works in a different position, in consultation with the whole team and the CE. The CE then presents it before the Board for approval. Even if NGOs don't have any policy or department to address HR issues, any senior manager can supervise it. BIS has recently issued guidelines to improve organizational accountability in the workplace; they can refer to it. In fact, it is also a certifiable standard (IS16001). Soon, a policy guiding good governance practices will be launched.

In fact, small NGOs have more complicated HR issues, as there is no dedicated person to address those issues, and they are sometimes just ignored. However, there are various NGOs that have good HR practices.

Hi to all who responded,

Guys, thank you so much. As I was reading your responses, I gathered some facts that will help in an attempt towards resolving the matter, as I feel that the situation is not healthy at all for the employees. I'm yet to collect more from others who might respond.