Q: Who should be responsible for setting salary rates for staff – board or ED?
A: Both have a role. The board approves the budget with some provision for changes in salary if they have the funds; the ED establishes the overall proposal. The Board approves personnel policies and procedures, the ED implements them. If raises are involved, the ED implements board-approved policies related to how raises are determined.
Q: How important are personnel reviews? Annual? More frequent?
A: The most common practice is to complete personnel reviews annually, on or around the staff person’s annual date. The individual should be reviewed by their direct supervisor, so in the case of the Executive Director the board needs to determine a process for review that invites input from the ED and that utilizes a board member, board committee or the full board to conduct the review. The organization should have a policy around the expectations for all personnel reviews, and we recommend that your process include input from the individual about their performance, not just a top-down look at how they are doing. Some organizations conduct this review monthly or quarterly because it fits their culture of continual feedback to employees. Some organizations tie the review back to the staff responsibilities in the strategic plan, or other goals set with them.
Q: What is the board’s responsibility in hiring the ED?
A: The board is responsible for assuring that the person hired as the ED meets the qualifications in the job description including the requirement for 51% of the management of the org to be persons with disabilities contained in the law. Unless you have three or more mana
gers, your ED must be a person with a disability. This should be affirmed to the Independent Living Administration.
Q: We don’t have active committees, but I have regular meetings with the Board Treasurer. Should this be formalized in policy?
A: If your board is large enough to have a formal and effective committee structure you may want to formalize it. If your meetings with the Board Treasure are part of your formal internal controls, you will want to include that in policy. In our sample polices and procedures you will personalize who is doing what, based on the size and structure of your Center. That is where you would formalize the Board Treasurer’s role. If this review is a courtesy so the treasurer can explain the financial statements at the next board meeting, you would not need to formalize that in policy.
Q:How often do board members need to sign the conflict of interest disclosure forms? Yearly?
A: All new board members (and staff members for that matter) should be presented with the conflict of interest policies and/or a code of ethical conduct when they begin with your organization. They would sign the code of ethical conduct when they complete the initial training. We also usually suggest that board members and staff members attend a short ethics training annually, and that they sign the code of ethics at the end of that training. A conflict of interest disclosure form could be signed at any time that a potential conflict is discussed. Most conflicts of interest are not known in advance, so disclosure is the ethical duty of the individual when they become aware of a potential conflict.
Q: How often should you review your personnel policies? Should a lawyer review?
A: It is wise to develop a schedule for policy review that assures that all of the organization’s policies and procedures are reviewed regularly, and annually would be best practice. Personnel policies guide the consistent personnel practices of the organization and can be key in defending against personnel legal complaints. It is wise to have a lawyer versed in personnel law review them, if not annually, any time there is a major change.
For more information from this workshop, go to the page for the workshop. This includes the captioned videos, PowerPoint Presentations and transcripts from the workshop, as well as sample financial policies and procedures.