3 Types of Organizations Who Need to Build Their HR from the Ground Up
Here at HR Ministry Solutions, we help all kinds of organizations repair, simplify, and better their HR. But we have a special product specifically designed for organizations that need to build their HR from the ground up. It’s called the HR Foundations Package. In this blog, we want to take some time to explain what that package actually looks like and the three types of organizations it is geared to help the most.
What is the HR Foundations Package?
As the name suggests, the HR Foundations Package helps churches and ministry organizations create a solid foundation for their employment practices. Even better, these deliverables can be completed in as little as three months allowing Foundations clients to quickly build a solid structure from which they can grow and scale their organization with compliance and best practices.
The cornerstone of the HR Foundations Package (and many HR practices!) is a compliant and comprehensive Staff Handbook. Not only should one exist, but it should also be regularly updated and utilized. Working through the handbook process outlines and clarifies the core aspects of the organization’s structure and practices.
After the handbook has been created and implemented, the HR Foundations Package provides guidance and insight into the organization’s full employee lifecycle: from hiring through the end of employment. This includes building and streamlining your hiring and onboarding process (complete with required and recommended new hire paperwork!), a Staff Lifestyle Agreement, a digital employee file system setup, tools for developing job descriptions, an offboarding system and processes, and guidance on compliant pay practices and employee classification.
Who needs the HR Foundations Package?
The HR Foundations Package is for any organization that altogether lacks structure or documented strategy in its employment lifecycle. Basically, anyone building their HR from the ground up and seeking a strong and compliant foundation. Within this group, there are three distinct types of organizations that benefit the most: new organizations, those looking to course correct, and those who need to rebuild entirely.
New Orgs
The first type of client in this category includes brand-new church plants or ministries that are trying to lay a solid foundation from the beginning. These organizations are looking to build their HR from the ground up from the start. They are seeking to build a rich organizational culture that cares for staff Biblically and compliantly. They are culture pioneers, forging their organizational path with the future in mind. These organizations have a blank slate on which to base their policies and it’s exciting to see them cultivate what their organization is going to be in terms of how they take care of their staff.
Course Corrections
The second type is the church or ministry that has an established history, but never clearly outlined and structured their employment practices. These organizations often grew quickly and didn’t carve out time to scale their HR with the rest of the growth. Looking back they now see why structure is important and they are trying to play catch up with their employment practices.
They could also be organizations that didn’t see the value in compliant and structured HR in the past. Many ministries have held the belief that HR was a secular idea unnecessary in the “church” world. They are only now discovering how compliance, structure, and best practices actually create and feed their culture and are trying to course-correct.
Regardless of when the organization came into existence, if they have recognized a need for well-documented, compliant, and consistent approaches to HR practices the HR Foundations Package is the perfect place to start.
Rebuilds
The third group that can really benefit from this package is organizations facing a major restructuring. For example, a specific campus of a church branching out on its own, a church disassociating itself with a specific association or denomination, or an organization that is going through a major restructuring and wants to start fresh.
In these instances, the organization likely has many core HR elements outlined but wants to revisit them and reestablish these details under their new circumstances. They are basically “rebuilding” their HR. These organizations may have an idea about the practices they would like to keep and those they want to do differently but need help translating these ideas into an actionable plan and documented structure.
What Now?
Whether an organization is new, course-correcting, or rebuilding, we love working alongside churches and ministry organizations to create strong HR foundations. Establishing a healthy, compliant base is imperative to the success of future growth and we would love to walk through it with you.
Ready to start today or do you have lingering questions? Let’s chat!
Liz Lindamood is an HR Project Coordinator at HR Ministry Solutions. She has a Master of Science degree in Community Counseling from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and got her first taste of HR while attending the Joshua Wilderness Institute at Hume Lake Christian Camps. She currently lives in Oklahoma with her husband and two boys.