Tips: Attracting and retaining staff
- Recruit people who are respected and admired by the whole community, but make sure your recruits are also a good fit for their position.
- Ask experienced staff members—or even professionals outside the organisation—to act as role models or mentors for less experienced employees.
- Encourage greater participation among women—especially on boards—to create balance.
- Check if your organisation can become a Registered Training Organisation. This means you can train your staff inside the organisation instead of having to send them to external training courses.
- Have a comprehensive staff induction process that makes new staff feel welcome, comfortable and knowledgeable about the organisation.
- Include cultural awareness and language training for staff, if appropriate, so they can be more effective in the community.
- Include compassionate or cultural leave for staff when drafting leave policies.
- Create pathways for staff to be promoted or rewarded for good performance. Advertise new positions internally before you look outside the organisation.
- Encourage personal growth and career development through coaching, professional development programs and skills training.
- Offer appropriate salary for skills and make sure staff realise that their salary is tied to their performance.
- Manage workloads. Make contact with volunteers through an organisation like Indigenous Community Volunteers to help staff with their workloads without draining your organisation’s resources.