Finance and Humanity: Doing More With Less In the Nonprofit World with Stacy Lowry
May 03, 2024
Dana Dowdell
Embark on a journey to the heart of nonprofit innovation with Stacy Lowry, CFO of Waterford Country School, who masterfully bridges the gap between finance and human resources. Learn how progressive HR strategies, such as employee referral programs and bonus vacation systems, aren't just buzzwords but are critical components in the retention of a passionate workforce. Stacy's candid sharing of the recent revamp of their employee handbook to address employee burnout is a testament to the power of empathetic policy-making in sustaining a non-profit's mission.
As we peel back the layers of HR challenges specific to the non-profit sector, Stacy sheds light on the ingenuity required when faced with staff reductions and the administrative intricacies introduced by legislative changes like Connecticut's paid leave program. Her insights highlight the skills necessary to navigate the unique landscape of HR in this field—organization, compassion, and a knack for process improvement. Stacy also covers the challenges of caring for a workforce whose mission is to care for others. For those in the trenches of non-profit management or simply intrigued by the sector's HR dynamics, this episode promises a treasure trove of wisdom and inspiring tales from an organization making a tangible difference in the lives of youth and animals alike.
Embark on a journey to the heart of nonprofit innovation with Stacy Lowry, CFO of Waterford Country School, who masterfully bridges the gap between finance and human resources. Learn how progressive HR strategies, such as employee referral programs and bonus vacation systems, aren't just buzzwords but are critical components in the retention of a passionate workforce. Stacy's candid sharing of the recent revamp of their employee handbook to address employee burnout is a testament to the power of empathetic policy-making in sustaining a non-profit's mission.
As we peel back the layers of HR challenges specific to the non-profit sector, Stacy sheds light on the ingenuity required when faced with staff reductions and the administrative intricacies introduced by legislative changes like Connecticut's paid leave program. Her insights highlight the skills necessary to navigate the unique landscape of HR in this field—organization, compassion, and a knack for process improvement. Stacy also covers the challenges of caring for a workforce whose mission is to care for others. For those in the trenches of non-profit management or simply intrigued by the sector's HR dynamics, this episode promises a treasure trove of wisdom and inspiring tales from an organization making a tangible difference in the lives of youth and animals alike.
This episode is brought to you by Boss Consulting HR and our Downloadable Products. We launched Downloadable Products in 2023, and I'm excited to share them with you through the Quirky HR podcast. If you head over to Boss Consulting HR and navigate to the Downloadable section, we'll, of course, make sure that it's linked in the podcast description. There you can find resources for small business owners, hr departments of one, new business owners who are not quite sure where to go to get started, all for a purchase. Our goal is to provide all the resources and tools for small business owners so that you can make sure that you are doing right by your employees and running your HR function appropriately. So, with that, check them out over on Boss Consulting HR and we'll get right into the show. Hey there, welcome back to Quirky HR.
Dana Dowdell:
I'm excited today because I'm joined by someone who I have like a tangential connection with. We are joined by Stacey Lowry of Waterford Country School, where she is the CFO, and Waterford Country School was one of my HR capacities before I went out on my own. So we have that connection and, stacey, I'm very excited to have you on the podcast. So thank you so much for being here, thanks for having me. So you serve in a CFO capacity which we were talking offline. That HR often falls under the CFO, but can you speak a little bit about your journey into that capacity and kind of your touch points in the HR function?
Stacy Lowry:
Yeah, so working at Waterford Country School is my first nonprofit experience and also my first HR experience. So finance is really my wheelhouse and has been where the majority of my career has been spent. And when I took this job at Waterford Country School it was overseeing HR, finance and information technology HR, finance and information technology and since I have been in my role, which is about almost five years now, I have also accumulated food service as part of my responsibilities and it's not really official, but I call risk management one of my areas too, because I do all the insurances and such. So HR one of my things coming in was that I really I was not super strong in that area, so I kind of dove right in and I had a staff member. So we have an HR coordinator that reports up to me, and shortly after I joined he transitioned out into a new role and so I really was fully immersed in HR and, I think, working at Waterford Country School.
Stacy Lowry:
So a couple of different things.
Stacy Lowry:
I don't have a lot of experience in other areas or businesses other than my interactions with HR, but I think we kind of do things a little bit differently in terms of HR is not at all punitive.
Stacy Lowry:
It's purely a staff support function. So we are there, you know, for the onboarding process and hiring and to get folks oriented and acclimated, and then we kind of, you know, turn them over to their respective departments and then we really are there for support like benefits, enrollment, you IT stuff, password badging, keys, help even beyond some of the things that happen at work. We've had situations where staff members have lost family members and we've gotten them grief counseling, EAP services. So we really like to think of ourselves in HR as, like I said, like a support or a helping function versus anything related to discipline or punitive, unless it gets to the point where, you know, there's like a real, like a grievance level thing and we have to get involved in an investigation. So that's something that I never really realized, that HR departments operated that way in different places, so definitely a new experience for me.
Dana Dowdell:
I think for a nonprofit too. That is a very different position of HR, and so can you maybe speak to how we talk a lot on the podcast of HR being that strategic partner, and it sounds like you did it right when you transitioned your HR department and HR function to really serve in that capacity. What were some of the things and steps that you took to get it there?
Stacy Lowry:
So a lot of the work that we've done and sort of some of it sort of intertwined. So like in my finance capacity, one of the things I really try to focus on is putting resources in the right place. So I've really tried to go through and look at positions and what we need and what we don't need and to really try to focus on, I guess, scaling back or making sure that everyone that we are having in a position is someone that we need so that it freed up money to pay people more. Like one of the biggest hurdles of working at a nonprofit is the pay. So we've done a lot of work on increasing the scales, done a lot of work on retention. We put in place an employee referral program where we will get our staff, because we kind of feel like the best place that we get staff is from our great staff. So we get $500 if someone refers a staff member. We have a bonus vacation that we give out and a recognition program, all that kind of stuff.
Stacy Lowry:
We partner with the departments. So sometimes there will be like conflict in departments, like interpersonal stuff going on. We'll partner with departments and sit with them and kind of like sort of talk things out and try to get them on track. We just did a huge revision of our employee handbook and we took a real close look at benefit time and how. You know in some of the positions that we have direct care staff, they're experiencing burnout. Sometimes we realized, especially during COVID, we would get new employees and sometimes they wouldn't have accrued any time. So we front load sick time. We streamlined the categories. Now we just have emergent like unplanned and then we have vacation. We try to be really generous in the time that we give.
Dana Dowdell:
Do you think working so like that? To me what you're saying is like a very progressive view on HR. So I know you mentioned that you're the previous HR person had kind of exited and you had to take on a lot of that stuff. So do you think like kind of, where did that knowledge or that motivation come from? Was it a collaborative approach or did you do market research, like what was your strategy?
Stacy Lowry:
We do some staff surveying and we also had a big change in our administration. So I think I was a new person. We have a new CEO that came in shortly after I came in the work, like COVID. I came in just before COVID and I think COVID changed the workforce a lot. You know people. It seemed like there was a big shift in people, the way they thought about work and whether or not they were going to go to work if they weren't happy doing the work.
Stacy Lowry:
So we've really tried to focus too on some of the things that our workplace offers that are unique from other places. Like we have a beautiful campus. We have 320, some acres. We encourage people to get outside to do some walking to. You can bring pets to work. We have a very casual workplace. Like folks can wear comfortable clothing. We another thing, kind of all over the place. Sorry, I'm new at this, but another thing we did was look at positions that could telework. We have a couple of categories. Like you can telework freely because that's the type of job you have, you could telework. We have a couple of categories like you can telework freely because that's the type of job you have. You can telework with permission or you can't because you're direct care and you have to come to work. That seemed to help folks out, I think. Just a lot of different inputs, listening to what employees were saying, listening to what the market was saying and just trying to make it a better workplace in general.
Dana Dowdell:
It sounds like a lot of choice was instituted, which typically in HR we look at it as like standardization, treating everybody the same same. But you guys had rolled out these benefits, these programs, these structures that really allowed for choice and flexibility, which again, I think is not common in the nonprofit world. So what did you see on the ROI for some of those missions and activities?
Stacy Lowry:
Well, so one of the things that our agency is built upon and super proud of is we have a model that we use called CARE, and we partner with Cornell University and so every single person that we have working at our agency is trained in that evidence-based model and so it's not something that just comes instinctively all the time. So we really invest in our employees and that's really part of the culture that we try to maintain. So when we lose people and we have new people coming in, that's kind of disruptive to that. So that's one of the big things is trying to create and maintain that culture of care.
Stacy Lowry:
And it's just it's a drain on the employees who stay. When you have a lot of turnover, you have to train new staff. You have new people coming in. It's I mean, there's the little costs that go along with it, like background checks and physicals and all of that, but it's really more just trying to build that institutional knowledge and also to have staff who are staying and able to progress. You know we want our homegrown staff to be promoted to lead and supervisor and manager and eventually program director. Like that's kind of the goal to develop good people and keep them.
Dana Dowdell:
So when the other HR person left, were you like fully assuming those responsibilities? Did you restructure the HR department? What does it look like now?
Stacy Lowry:
So this is part of that scale back that I was talking about, especially in administrative functions, because we just don't have the money to spend on non-revenue generating things. So I have one HR coordinator that reports to me, we're down to one IT coordinator, we have a couple of people in our business office and then we have food service. So we really HR is one person and me as a backup. So it's pretty bare bones.
Dana Dowdell:
What was it like for you having to take on some of those responsibilities, Like how did you divvy that up and how do you balance it now?
Stacy Lowry:
We have done a lot of work in automation as well. So we got a new payroll HR system all in one that we work with. We have automated like all of our onboarding checklists, all of our recurring things that folks have to go through and sign off on every year. We went paperless on like time off requests. We do performance reviews and disciplinary or accolades. They can all go through our system. So a lot of that you know has been time-saving and helpful in terms of like just kind of everyday stuff.
Stacy Lowry:
One thing that's gone crazy lately is FMLA. So now that the Connecticut paid leave is in place, which we absolutely love and we think it's a great program, but it's definitely presents some challenges in the workforce when you have, you know, lots of folks who maybe wouldn't have the ability to go on an unpaid leave, now they have income replacement so they they are taking those leaves, you know, and we support it. You know we have dads that are that are taking 12 weeks when they have a baby and those are some really great things on a couple of different levels. That allows, you know, dads to engage and it also, I feel, sort of levels the playing field a little bit for for women and work. So we're happy for that. But but administratively it's a challenge, you know.
Dana Dowdell:
So, coming from the for-profit world to nonprofits, what do you see in as far as the differences between the HR function or the HR capacity?
Stacy Lowry:
My dealings. I guess I really, before I worked here I didn't know, aside from onboarding and offboarding and you know, some disciplinary stuff, I really didn't know what HR did. But we do. We do so much. We, you know, we're helping employees navigate, like which medical plans to choose and when their stuff doesn't get paid, we're helping them where you know, training them on it. It's HR plus, really, like Nikki, who's my counterpart in HR she's amazing, like she's building out a whole LMS system with content on it and voiceover and we just have to do so much more with less. That it's it's. It's kind of Whatever. Whatever comes our way, we just kind of handle it. So I don't know if that's different than for-profit, but I know it's probably much less staffing. For sure we have less resources in our department than a for-profit.
Dana Dowdell:
So to that point of kind of having to be scrappy in an HR capacity for someone that's listening, that is in an HR role and wants to go into nonprofits or is new in HR, what are some qualities and skills that you think are really helpful for an HR person?
Stacy Lowry:
So I definitely think organization, I think an eye for like streamlining process or I think compassion comes in handy. You know lots of when you have 150, 200 employees, you know you have folks going through things.
Dana Dowdell:
I think figuring out what makes people want to work at your workplace and what do you think that that is unique to nonprofits, or do you think that's a good skill and good qualities to have, irregardless of where you're working?
Stacy Lowry:
I would say irregardless. I think there's like this feeling out there or at least I had it before Like if you got called to HR it was not good, and I don't think our staff feel that way. I, you know, we sort of, anytime anyone comes in, I always make it a point to go in and meet them and orientate, like I know every staff by name, Like if I see them I know, to address them by name and say hello. It's sort of intimate, even though you know it's a medium sized workplace.
Stacy Lowry:
I think one of the things about at least our nonprofit you know we have we work with a population of youth that you know they have some behavioral challenges. A lot of them have experienced trauma and I think that attracts a workforce that is connected to that in some way, whether it's personal or some family member or a family dynamic or just a love of that kind of work. So along with that can come some challenges too. Sometimes we have some folks who, like they either love us or hate us. It feels like sometimes you know the ones who just don't fit. Sometimes they don't exit gracefully. We have some court challenges sometimes. So it's definitely a unique workplace but I really love it. It's always. One of the things I love about my job is how dynamic it is and there's always something.
Dana Dowdell:
The comment about the nature of what you guys do as a nonprofit and that it often attracts individuals that kind of come with that connection in some way. Speak to from an HR lens like how might that manifest for not an HR problem, but like in a situation where HR needs to step in.
Stacy Lowry:
Well, it can. I mean it can be great and it can be problematic. So I guess what I mean by that is sometimes we might have some folks who have had a connection to trauma or have their own mental health struggles, and it's challenging work and it's exhausting work and sometimes those things come into the workplace. So, you know, we might have to encourage folks to self-care. We might have some folks who are not quite emotionally competent enough for their jobs. It takes all kinds of you know shapes in the workplace. And then we have some folks who are drawn to that work because of something like me personally, like one of the reasons why I was so drawn to the work when I finally, when I applied for the job and found out what Waterford Country School does.
Stacy Lowry:
I have a one of my my sons has a congenital birth defect and we had providers early on. Like he had birth birth defect and we had providers early on. Like he had birth to three and we had providers in our home and like they made all the difference in his success and and and his ability to, you know, go to school and get you know. Just, they just made a real impact in our life, and so that's one of the reasons why I know our providers that go out and help people or, you know, when we have people in our programs, I just know they make all the difference. I think folks just when they're connected to the work, it really I don't know, it just makes it meaningful on both ends. Yeah.
Dana Dowdell:
It's definitely a special place. I remember when I was working there I didn't interact with the kids a lot, but I remember watching a kid who was in crisis and how challenging it was to watch that. You know, I think I was sitting in my car and they were having a crisis and the staff were incredible with them. And so I think to even that point, you know, do you guys offer and I can't remember if this is the care model, but are there opportunities for staff to kind of like debrief those really tough, challenging moments?
Stacy Lowry:
And so we have a process called autopsy without blame, where we'll take a situation and look at it and it's. I love that. Our environment is not you. You don't have to be afraid to make a mistake. You have to be accountable and you have to do some like self-reflection and the hope is that you learn from it and you grow. But it's not. It's not a place where you have to be afraid to say boy, I really screwed that up, you know, and I love that.
Dana Dowdell:
Can you talk about that? I that autopsy without blame, because that wasn't in place when I was there, and so how did that come to be? How did that get rolled out? What was that process like?
Stacy Lowry:
Um gosh, I don't know exactly how it um originated, but it has been there since I have been there and it I believe it's connected to care. It's just a way of kind of dissecting a critical event, and not even necessarily critical just when mistakes are made, just kind of breaking it down and saying, okay, what have I, what could have I have done better in that moment and what, how? How could have you responded? Or you know, and sometimes it's simple things like just giving a kid space versus being right up in there, you know, right in proximity, or you know, sometimes we don't have finer moments, you have a bad staff on staff interaction or whatever the thing is. It's just kind of stepping back and having that reflective piece and and acknowledging what went wrong and how to figure out, how to move forward and not not do that again and have it be more positive the next time.
Dana Dowdell:
When you're doing this, just how do you set the parameters or the expectations around this idea of autopsy without blame? Because you know, I imagine that there are people who come into it with the idea that they want to blame somebody or find the blame. So how do you kind of set the guidelines around the program?
Stacy Lowry:
I think that does happen. Sometimes, you know, when you're looking at an event or whatever an interaction, there is some some um, sometimes a reaction where folks want to blame each other and we, we kept ourselves sometimes right, even even in our leadership group, sometimes like it'll get a little snippy or defensive and we have to step back and say like, hey, you know, we were all working really hard, we're all doing more with less, we're all stretched thin and just taking that moment to say I understand the space that you're operating in and I shouldn't come at you that way. I could have called you before the meeting instead of saying something in a meeting in front of people or whatever. So that does happen. People do throw blame around a little bit, but I think, as far as someone thinking they could use that as an excuse to not be accountable or I don't really think that happens and it's more just gives people the ability to, I don't know.
Stacy Lowry:
You know the models we use and the situations that happen. They're not. We're not making widgets. It's like it's kids who react in different ways and human beings, and it's not. There's not a script that you can go by or, uh, you know a manual. So I think in in situations like that, it's really important to just I don't know look at the bigger picture and step back and say what you know, what are the things that are working and what are the things that aren't, and let's do more of those and less of the ones that aren't going so well, you know.
Dana Dowdell:
I feel like that's like a good tool, or takeaway from this conversation is like it's a program that's in place that encourages people to have these conversations and ask the questions. And then there's, there's. It's across the board, it's across the whole organization and then there's, there's.
Stacy Lowry:
It's across the board, it's across the whole organization. Yeah, there's a lot of judgment. It's not if people are empowered to use judgment and, and you know, we train them in hopes that they can make good decisions, and it's not always possible. You're not, you're not always going to do it perfectly.
Dana Dowdell:
Right.
Stacy Lowry:
Right.
Dana Dowdell:
So we were talking before again that you know sometimes HR reports into finance. Um, what are some tips or recommendations for those that might be listening who serve in a finance position in order to have an effective working relationship and a leadership relationship with someone in HR?
Stacy Lowry:
Oh, finance, I guess I would say for finance folks, sometimes there can be a tendency, a program that sometimes has a lot of overtime, and when you look at that you might say, well, why do they have so much overtime? But they, you know there's there's more call outs in that program because it's a, it's a high, high intensity. You know acute kids are in that program. Or when you're making the decision, you know, right now we're going through benefits renewal and, um, the renewal is high. Like, do we increase staff contributions, even though that will help the agency, what's that going to do to our staff? What's that going to look like for, you know, families that are already struggling. They're not making a ton of money. Um, so I would say, just keep in mind in you know, know, when you're in your finance capacity, that there's your human capital is one of your biggest assets and you really have to make sure that a lot of your attention is on that resource.
Dana Dowdell:
I love it. It's nice to have someone in a finance capacity that has such a refreshing view of HR.
Stacy Lowry:
Yeah, we really love our staff, we really do.
Dana Dowdell:
Well, I'm very grateful for this conversation. Where can listeners find you?
Stacy Lowry:
So our website www. waterfordcountryschool. org. Thats probably the best place. So we're on Facebook.
Dana Dowdell:
And, as always, we'll make sure that all of those links and how to connect with Waterford country school. They have an incredible animals program. So if you guys are listening and you're local to uh, eastern Connecticut, please check them out. They do rescue animals and it's so, so cool. So, um, again, we'll make sure all of that is in the show notes so that you can connect with Stacey and the rest of the Waterford Country School team. Stacey, thank you so much for being on Quirky HR.
