Assisting Nonprofits During COVID-19 Using Furloughed Employees

I was talking to a friend today who is employed by a nonprofit I support and I asked about the impact COVID-19 was having on their organization. They are heavily reliant on volunteer groups for one of their programs and unfortunately, many of the groups (including mine) had to cancel or reschedule due to the travel and gathering restrictions.

That conversation got me thinking about the long-term effects for both their organization and the surrounding community due to the reduced volunteers. I quickly Googled “the impact of COVID-19 on Nonprofits” and not surprisingly, saw several articles about nonprofits going from focusing on sustainability to survivability. The article that impacted me the most was CNN’s opinion piece by John MacIntosh, Managing Partner of SeaChange Capital Partners. John ended his article discussing the importance of the nonprofit work, especially as we rebuild post-COVID-19, and challenged us to be better prepared in the future.

So, what does that mean in the context of furloughed employees, social determinants of health, corporations, and nonprofits? It comes back to why I started achi – to connect various business sectors to solve problems. Right now we have health systems and corporations needing to furlough employees to reduce expenses, and we have local nonprofits in need of volunteers to help continue their vital services in the community. The key is connecting the two and preparing both for a better future.

There is a three-way benefit to this approach. First, a furloughed employee may now have something purposeful to do and can continue to feel like they are contributing to the greater good. The health system, if a nonprofit, may be able to count some of the volunteer hours from employees (if they are remaining on payroll) towards their Community Benefit requirements. If the company is for-profit, they may be able to count the volunteer hours as a charitable donation to help offset income taxes. Either way, by incorporating this plan into the furlough process for employees, you help increase employee engagement and loyalty, thereby reducing costly employee turnover. Finally, for the nonprofit, it helps connect them to a potentially new corporate partner and can solidify local support by tapping into a new source of volunteers, which will help strengthen it for the future.

There can be good things that come out of this current crisis, even from hard decisions like furloughing employees. Let’s be the change and create some positive outcomes that benefit everyone and strengthen our communities for the future. Now is the perfect time to look at innovative solutions to current challenges.

For more information about ways achi can assist with your furloughed employees, please download our flyer.

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About achi

achi is a holistic care management company that lowers overall expenses by actively engaging people and connecting them to organizations to address the social determinants of health. Through innovative partnerships, cross-sector collaboration, and creative solutions, we equip organizations across multiple industries to educate the people they serve and connect them with resources to improve their lives from the ground up. By partnering with health systems, educational institutions and corporations, achi empowers lasting transformation in individual lives—resulting in an overall healthier population and data to transform our healthcare payment models. To learn more about achi and its mission, visit www.achi.solutions.

The High Cost of Employee Turnover

With voluntary employee turnover costs exceeding $600 billion nationwide, according to the Work Institute 2019 Retention Report, employee retention needs to be a top priority for every company. As labor-related costs are often the largest line item expense for corporations, companies have no choice but to pay attention to this area.

Prior to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the US was in one of the tightest labor markets in recent history. Per SHRM’s 2019 State of the Workplace, 83% of companies surveyed struggled to recruit suitable candidates over the past year. For industries like healthcare that were at the top of the February 2020 Bureau of Labor Statistics job opening rates, losing current employees only compounds the problems. Overall hospital turnover is about 18%, according to the NSI 2020 National Health Care Retention Report, showing that even a small decrease in turnover can save an institution millions annually.

Although there is debate about the actual dollar amount of the cost of turnover, from a low estimate of $15,000 per employee to the higher end of a position's full annual salary, everyone will agree that this takes a toll on the bottom line of an organization. Not only are the costs noticed in recruiting and training, but turnover costs can be felt in other areas such as: paying overtime to existing staff for coverage, productivity of new staff, quality and safety concerns, and customer satisfaction.

Help minimize the loss of your valuable employees. As employees are furloughed and new opportunities open up in a post COVID-19 world, it is imperative that your workforce will be available to return when you need them. With profit margins projected to plummet in so many industries this year, you can’t afford to incur preventable turnover costs. We can help your employees stay engaged during furloughs, connect to the resources they need, and help you remain their employer of choice.

For more information about ways achi can help you communicate with your furloughed employees, please download our flyer.

_________________________________________________________________________

About achi

achi is a holistic care management company that lowers overall expenses by actively engaging people and connecting them to organizations to address the social determinants of health. Through innovative partnerships, cross-sector collaboration, and creative solutions, we equip organizations across multiple industries to educate the people they serve and connect them with resources to improve their lives from the ground up. By partnering with health systems, educational institutions and corporations, achi empowers lasting transformation in individual lives—resulting in an overall healthier population and data to transform our healthcare payment models. To learn more about achi and its mission, visit www.achi.solutions.

Communication Tips for Furloughed Employees

This week seemed especially hard. COVID-19 continues to impact our daily lives, most of the country remains under “shelter in place” orders, and daily life as we used to know it seems like it was light-years ago. We anticipated coming out of winter into a season of celebration with tournaments, spring break trips, proms, and graduations. Instead, the past week was consumed with increasing numbers of infections and deaths, and a new era that included announcements of thousands of employee furloughs.

It started last week with a few health systems furloughing employees, and now the list tops over 100 systems nationally, with corporations like

Dick’s Sporting Goods adding another 40,000 employees to the soon-to-be furloughed list. It was challenging to listen to the news and realize the hundreds of thousands of lives that will quickly be impacted with uncertainty and additional stress.

The part that struck me as the most frustrating was that this is one of the primary reasons that I decided to leave my job and launch achi. I wanted to create a company that would help corporations care for their employees and help connect them to necessary support resources in their communities. Yet, here I was watching these events unfold around me thinking I should have done this six months ago.

Today I spent several hours listening to the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s (HFMA) Spring Virtual Conference where I heard Joe Fifer, HFMA’s President and CEO, make a Biblical reference to the book of Esther. He reminded the healthcare professionals that although times are hard, we were made for “just such a time as this.” Wow – that gave me a different perspective.

After rereading the story of Esther, I realized that instead of looking at the challenges, we are called as leaders for “just such a time as this.” If anything, this crisis has shown me the increasing need to have support systems in place, to educate employees, and to ensure that people have knowledge of and access to services that can help them in times like this. Now is the time to look at things differently and put new systems and processes in place to communicate with furloughed employees. In many ways, this upheaval has taught us that some things do need to change. How we respond will determine the course for our communities in the future. Let’s use this time to take care of each other and ensure that everyone has the support they need.

For more information about ways achi can help you communicate with your furloughed employees, please download our flyer.

_________________________________________________________________________

About achi

achi is a holistic care management company that lowers overall expenses by actively engaging people and connecting them to organizations to address the social determinants of health. Through innovative partnerships, cross-sector collaboration, and creative solutions, we equip organizations across multiple industries to educate the people they serve and connect them with resources to improve their lives from the ground up. By partnering with health systems, educational institutions and corporations, achi empowers lasting transformation in individual lives—resulting in an overall healthier population and data to transform our healthcare payment models. To learn more about achi and its mission, visit www.achi.solutions.