Heifer International Global Human Resources Compensation and Benefits Study

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Heifer InternationalGlobal Human
ResourcesCompensation and Benefits Study
February 2007
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AGENDA

• Introduction to Heifer International
• Study Aim and Process
• Summary of HR Priorities
• Overview of Findings
• Governance/Administration
• Human Resources

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Heifer International
The mission of Heifer International is to work
with communities to end hunger and poverty and
care for the earth.
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A Brief History

• U.S. based NGO founded in 1944
• Founder, Dan West, declares not a cup, but a
  cow
• Transformed from relief to holistic community
  development
• Unique approach of Passing on the Gift
• Developed Heifers Cornerstones

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Heifers Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable
Development

• The twelve principles are
• Passing on the gift
• Accountability
• Sharing and caring
• Sustainability and self-reliance
• Improved animal management
• Nutrition and income
• Gender and family focus
• Genuine need and justice
• Improving the environment
• Full participation
• Training and education
• Spirituality

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The desired outcomes (Ends) of Heifers work are

• 1. Families and communities achieve and sustain
  income and food security.
• 2. In the communities where Heifer operates,
  environmental integrity and restoration are
  recognized and practiced.
• 3. Individuals and groups are educated and
  empowered to take action to create a just,
  economically viable, and sustainable world.
• 4. Public and private policies have been adopted
  and systems changed to support income and food
  security.

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Heifers Global Reach

• Organized by 4 geographic program areas
• Africa
• Americas
• Asia/South Pacific
• Central Eastern Europe
• In FY06, Heifer had 726 active projects in 57
  countries and 29 U.S. states.
• Since 1944, Heifer has assisted more than 8.5
  million families in 125 countries.

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• Study Aim and Process

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Aim of the study to improve the compensation and
benefits for local staff in Heifers field offices

• Key drivers for the study include the following
• Heifers rapid growth and expansion
• A recently completed domestic compensation review
• A desire to create a consistent and equitable
  structure (internally and externally) at Heifers
  international locations
• A need to understand and document local practices
• A desire to explore mechanisms to provide more
  assistance to staff

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The scope of the study included site visits in 35
locations and interviews with approximately 600
staff
Asia Cambodia China Indonesia Mekong Regional
Program Nepal Philippines Thailand Vietnam
Africa Burkina Faso Cameroon Ghana Kenya Mozambiq
ue Rwanda South Africa Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zim
babwe
Americas Bolivia Canada Ecuador Guatemala Haiti H
onduras Mexico Nicaragua Peru

• C E Europe
• Albania
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Georgia
• Kosovo
• Lithuania
• Poland
• Romania
• Russia
• Slovakia
• Ukraine

Heifer affiliates also participated in the study
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The study began with a pilot phase in the
Philippines

• Consultant site visit process involved
• An all-employee kickoff meeting
• Overview and purpose of compensation study
• Staff expectations/outcomes of study
• Questions and answers
• Review of interview schedule
• Employee interviews
• Focus group meetings
• All-employee validation meeting
• Consultant findings report
• Employee feedback and discussion
• General questions and answers

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Findings at the country level were rolled-up to
the area program level for leadership review and
priority setting

• Development of individual country reports
• Presented to staff, at conclusion of site visit
• Written summary for senior leadership
• Overall area program report
• Findings
• Conclusions
• Recommendations

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Summary of HR Priorities
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Overall Heifer enjoyed a very positive employment
brand which can be strengthened to heighten
workplace satisfaction

• The key elements of the employment brand include
  the following

Skill enrichment
Company values
Career growth and opportunity
Heifer
Equal opportunity
Rewards and recognition
Tolerance and acceptance (diversity)
strong traits
needs improvement
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Overview of Findings
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Findings from field visits fall into the
following eight categories
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Governance and Administration
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Governance/Administration

• Budgeting
• Finding
• 75/25 budget ratios for program and
  administration and underlying methodology
• Consideration
• Adopt the functional allocation model used for
  annual corporate audit
• Currency
• Finding
• Foreign currency devaluation of program budgets
  and salaries
• Consideration
• Denominate program budgets and staff salaries in
  local currency, with policy exceptions

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Governance/Administration (cont.)

• Salary Increases
• Finding
• Standardized program and salary increases
• Consideration
• Increase program budget and staff salaries in
  step with local inflation (consumer prices)
• Incorporation
• Finding Dependence on HQ for funding
• Consideration Incorporate field offices with
  local authorities

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Governance/Administration (cont.)

• Compliance
• Finding Awareness of local labor laws
• Consideration Develop monitoring and reporting
  function to ensure compliance

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Human Resources
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Human Resources

• Staffing and Deployment
• By choice, Heifer provides local jobs to local
  staff
• Heifers headquarters leadership is largely
  sourced from the field
• Finding
• Achieving projected growth targets with existing
  resources
• Consideration
• Review assumptions about project locations,
  organization or work, assessment of skills and
  abilities

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Length of Contract
• Funding requirements often require short-term
  contracts, especially during the formation of a
  national office or new projects
• Finding
• Balancing fiscal needs of program with realities
  of staff financial vulnerabilities inability
  to obtain loans of major property (land/housing)
  and dependent education lack of gratuity
  payment to soften blow of temporary unemployment
• Impacts attraction/retention of key talent
• Consideration
• Review of contract length and extend where
  possible

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Training and Development
• Finding Provision of long-term training for
  staff
• Desire for long-term training most urgent
• Viewed as essential vehicle for career
  development/advancement
• College/university level most sought after
• Means to leveraging bigger salaries
• Perceived largely as unattainable due to
• Cost of tuition/books
• Loss of income during study period
• Time commitment of job
• Consideration Develop regional scholars program
  for best and brightest with mechanism for
  ensuring retention upon completion of studies.
  Development of HPI self-study program with a
  accreditation from a university to confer B.A.
  level degree

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Career Growth and Opportunity
• Issue
• Most field offices are small organizations, as a
  result career opportunities are perceived to be
  limited
• Some staff are not prepared or are unable to
  compete for roles that involve external
  competition due to lack of opportunity (and
  limited trainings)
• The loss of key talent affects Heifers
• Technical skills
• Institutional memory
• Organizational capacity building
• Leadership development
• Succession planning
• Consideration
• Redefine career paths individual contributors
  cross-functional mobility rotations transfers
  travel special projects lateral moves

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Compensation Program Design/Administration
• Issue
• Improve compensation program design,
  competitiveness, administration, and
  communication
• Consideration
• Undertake compensation and benefits review and
  develop administrative procedures and handbooks

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Benefits
• Issue
• Improve benefits programs
• National medical schemes broadly deemed
  inadequate and inequitable Income
  replacement/protection
• Work-related accident
• Non-work-related accidents
• Job security during absences
• Life insurance
• Pension/gratuity
• Consideration
• Review current system of benefits and consider
  improving coverage

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Rewards and Recognition
• Finding Opportunities for reward and
  recognition based on performance need
  strengthening
• Considerations Provide merit-based pay
  increases (beyond cost of living) discretionary
  awards for the Country Director/supervisors (spot
  awards, cash/non-cash)

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Rewards and Recognition (cont.)
• Provide trips to HQ for long-term service
• Augment travel of lower-level staff with
  additional trainings
• For example, security training for drivers
• Provide certificates/award mementos
• Awards by categories
• Recognize local, regional, worldwide
  contributions
• Additional trainings
• Beyond basic/essential capacity building
• Building lateral skills

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Rewards and Recognition (cont.)
• Implement regional scholars program to help
  retain top talent, providing career breaks,
  stimulating program innovation, and
  organizational-building capacity
• Candidates for the regional scholars program, for
  example, could be
• Limited to the top four individuals in an Area
  program
• Selected by Area Council, approved by headquarters

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Human Resources (cont.)

• Finding Develop a global HR strategy,
  philosophy, and values
• Consideration
• Adopt Heifers Cornerstones as the value system
  for human resources building off of staff values
  Flexibility, Sustainability, Accountability, and
  Trust
• Link HR to Heifers corporate social
  responsibility efforts by developing a framework
  to address staff participation in Heifers
  long-term community development initiatives
• Audit existing HR policies and practices, and
  procedures and processes to ensure alignment with
  values and redesigning as needed

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Where are we now?

• All assessments and reports have been completed
• Two area programs have completed
  country-by-country internal salary ranges
• Two area programs in process of developing
  country-by-country internal salary ranges

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Next Steps

• Internal Salary Alignment (ISA) process for all
  field staff
• Compilation for global view of Heifers current
  benefits practices in all countries
• Comparison of current practices with legally
  required practices for compliance in each country
• Development of global benefits scheme to ensure
  equity and improve assistance to field staff

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Questions?