Protect your nonprofit by cross-training staff

If a fire ravaged your nonprofit’s building, your disaster plan would likely ensure that your valuable data would be saved and operations could continue. But what would happen if one of your key accounting people were seriously injured in a car accident tomorrow? Would your nonprofit be able to conduct business as usual until that person returned to work or was replaced? Or would financial transactions virtually come to a standstill because no one else knows how to do that job?

Cross-training may be the solution

The cross-training of accounting personnel and other employees — teaching them how to do each other’s jobs — can help protect your organization from an absence in the short or long term. The potential reasons for an absence are almost countless: An employee may become sick or disabled, have a baby, take a vacation or military leave, be called to jury duty, retire or suddenly resign.

Having someone else on staff set to jump in and take the reins can keep your not-for-profit up and running without much of a hitch.

The organization benefits

Cross-training employees — ideally including everyone in your accounting department — can benefit your nonprofit in other ways, too. Consider, for instance, the productivity factor. If the workload temporarily becomes especially heavy in one area, you can shift staff to ease the situation.

Let’s say that Accounts Receivable (AR) is particularly hectic in the fall when annual membership dues are processed. Cross-training could enable you to move a Development employee to help with the onslaught for a few weeks.

And there’s also the value of a fresh pair of eyes. An employee who’s temporarily filling in for another person will bring a new perspective to day-to-day operations and may be able to come up with process improvements.

Moreover, to use the example above, the next time that AR is processing membership dues, the cross-trained employee from Development will know exactly the format to use when printing reports from the membership database. That way the information needed by AR will be easily available.

Cross-training is also an essential internal control, which is particularly crucial in your accounting department. Making sure that one person’s job is periodically performed by another person can prevent fraud. Along with mandatory vacations, cross-training is a key deterrent to dishonesty, because a potential fraudster will know that the cross-trained person could uncover the fraud.

Employees also gain

Employees themselves can benefit in a number of ways. If the task the cross-trained person learns is vertical — it requires more responsibility or skill than that employee’s normal duties — the cross-training will likely make the employee feel more valuable to the organization.

If the task is lateral — with the same level of responsibility as the employee’s routine duties — the cross-trained employee still gains by getting a better understanding of the department (or the organization) as well as a change of pace. Plus, the shared experience fosters mutual support.

It’s not for everyone

Not everyone is a prime candidate for cross-training. Pick employees who are interested in particular areas of your operation and are open to change. For example, your public relations writer might be very interested in learning how to write a grant proposal. Or your AR clerk may have the skills and experience with your software to be a great back-up for entering vendor invoices into your payables system.

Build the idea of cross-training into your hiring process as well. Select job candidates who show flexibility and curiosity, and let them know that cross-training will be something they’ll encounter during their employment.

Training methods vary

Training can be as simple as naming two people in a department each other’s “on-the-job buddy” — each person learns what the other person does (at least the key responsibilities) and how to perform those duties.

Another way is to split a person’s responsibilities between two or more appropriate people. For instance, the Literacy Foundation of Anytown wants to cross-train employees for its program coordinator position. Someone from Administration may be trained to handle the language skills testing part of that job while someone from Marketing might be cross-trained to do first-day presentations to new volunteers.

Be sensitive

Cross-training programs are most successful when nonprofits are attuned to some of the prickly issues that can arise. Above all else, make sure that no one feels that his or her job is threatened. Let employees know that the cross-training is for everyone’s benefit when a staff emergency or temporary need arises. And emphasize that employees will be expanding their skill sets.

Also be aware that trainees may feel stressed if they’re expected to learn new responsibilities while carrying out the ones they already have. If possible, ease up their regular duties while they’re training.

Finally, don’t expect employees to learn everything at lightning speed. Be selective in the duties you pinpoint for training. And once an employee has developed new talents, be sure he or she uses them periodically.

Getting started

A good way to begin the cross-training process is to appoint a small task force to determine which positions should be cross-trained, segregate the duties and create an implementation plan. It takes some time to get people up to speed carrying out new responsibilities. So allow for this learning curve.

If you would like additional information or to discuss the topics mentioned, please contact Amanda Meko, CPA at 317-260-4436 or ameko@greenwaltcpas.com.