Why a Hiring Freeze Isn't Always the Answer
Barfooz, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22120
There is a saying that we're all dying, just maybe not today. Something similar might be said about the nonprofit/museum workplace, that we're all looking for a new job, just maybe not today. Unless you see retirement's taillights gleaming in the distance, I would hazard a guess that everyone else has their periscope up more than they'd like to admit. It's a way of day dreaming, of trying on new professional identities. Is that museum really as pleasant as it looks in the photos? Is living there a lot more expensive? Could I do the job? Could I move? What about my partner, children, parents? Is it reasonable to think about a new job in the middle of a COVID spike?
But the fact that a lot of us look casually or seriously isn't the point. It's what drives the looking: curiosity, better pay, new goals, a change in a partner's position are likely a few of the positives. People also seek new jobs because they're miserable. Maybe they are harassed or bullied at work; maybe their work is monumentally boring or maybe they work for a control freak where their only creative choice is choosing lunch. In fact, if we believe Resume Builders recent report, 23-percent of currently employed individuals plan to find a new job in 2022. Another 9-percent already have new jobs, while an additional nine-percent will retire. That's 41-percent of sturm und drang, which is a lot of workplace churn.
And then there is this: In addition to all the other ways it's complicated the museum workplace, COVID has tightened budgets to the point where many people do their original job, plus bits and pieces from staff who resigned or retired, leaving current staff with a constant feeling of whiplash. There is a direct connection between the speed with which those additional tasks become permanent and a staff member's ability to perform them well. Succeed and they are yours forever. Fail, and you'll get additional tasks as leaders spitball work at the overtasked. Funny thing though, these random tasks are most often assigned to the so-called rising stars, the driven, the scarily competent.
Then why do the leadership--otherwise known as your organization's deciders--always seem surprised when those same scarily competent people look elsewhere and leave? Do they really think having a job that's like a daily game of Jenga is the way to entice talented employees to lean in? Have the deciders forgotten that overloading current staff--even if it's only until COVID is over--means they may loose staff in whom they have an investment? How does it make sense to have a multitude of tasks that need filling, but say you're in a hiring freeze, and yet it's the addition of those same tasks that cause current staff to look for work elsewhere, putting the entire HR picture into a kind of death spiral? Where's the logic in not being able to hire for work that needs to be done, but allowing that to put you in a position where you loose staff with training, institutional history, and talent precisely because you've overloaded them? And it's not like hiring doesn't cost. At a minimum, it's a time suck. Even doing 75-percent of a search on Zoom, you still need to bring finalists to your heritage organization or museum, and that costs money. Sometimes a lot of money. And then there is the time current staff invest in searches, in mentoring, in training, and onboarding. Time taken away from their already overloaded to-do lists.
So what do I think the deciders should do? Well, in a perfect world, communicate up so trustees understand the organizational employment picture. Make sure they're clear about the costs associated not just with hiring, but in keeping talented, engaged, creative, competent staff. Make sure they understand that not hiring brings its own costs, and further, that an individual who is depressed and dissatisfied because their job mutated because of a staff freeze isn't a bad person. Wanting to do what you were hired to do isn't a character flaw. I'm not saying one conversation or even a series of conversations is a panacea, but at least when you have those conversations you'll have something to report when you communicate down or across to your colleagues and leadership team. And that's key. You're asking for sacrifice in a situation that's gone on for two years and shows no sign of let up. Your colleagues need to understand that a) the shared sacrifice applies equitably (even to the leadership), and b)what the organization's plans are for moving forward.
If you have an HR person, consider involving them in discussions regarding future planning. Ditto your CFO. There is more to both of those jobs than the bottom line and benefits.
Make sure your board and your CFO understands a hiring freeze can lead to loosing staff, and what a talent drain means in terms of both overall expenses and your brand. If you emerge from the COVID years, a pale imitation of your former self, unable to hire the talent you once had, will the hiring freeze be worth it?
Emphasize or re-emphasize your organization's core values. Does the combination of freezing some positions while overloading others fit your organizational value statement? If not, this might be the moment to talk about it openly and transparently.
Is your hiring freeze global or does it apply only to new positions? Whatever decision you make, be transparent about it, and stand by it. If you suggest it only applies to new positions, and then refuse to back-fill an existing position, your ability to maintain trust can be sorely damaged. Why should staff believe you moving forward?
Your staff and your colleagues aren't stupid. Explain the why. If you're an organization whose endowment grew during COVID, and yet you're still tightening your belt, explain why. Again, trust your staff to listen and ask questions.
Be authentic, truthful and honest. Offer a future check-in. If the bulk of your money comes in between May-September, set a meeting now for early October to update colleagues on staffing.
COVID continues to damage the workplace as it damages families and individuals. If there is any lesson to come out of this period, it's that we need to be truthful with ourselves, those close to us, and our workplace colleagues about our capabilities both individual and organizational.
Be well, be kind, and do good work.
Joan Baldwin
