Employing staff
When bringing in funding and employing somebody for a specific purpose, tensions can easily arise as volunteers and employees work side by side. Take some time to think about what your role is in relation to this. Consider:
• What is the relationship between employed staff members and coordinating group?
• Who will be responsible for managing the staff?
• Can somebody from the coordinating group be employed?
• If the employed staff members are responsible for delivering funded projects, what does the coordinating group do?
• Who provides an overall direction and strategy for the Transition group?
• Who applies for potential further funding?
• Who organises non-funded projects and events etc.?
As a way of overcoming employee and volunteer tensions, you may wish to advertise smaller contracts of only a few hours a week. That way a passionate person could apply even though they may be employed elsewhere or a full-time student. This does, however, mean that you have a larger team of employees to manage, and that you won’t be offering a job that can provide a
full livelihood.
The St Andrews' experience of hiring staff:
• The best experience of individual employees has been of those who are invested in and passionate about the community
• There are many bureaucratic obligations towards an employee
• Use the existing university structures, such as Human Resources and Finances, to assist with all the formal business and requirements of hiring someone
• Transition University of St Andrews organised all line managers, payrolls, etc. through
the university
• Of course, this depends on the relationship with these departments; sometimes it can be more complicated to go through the university!
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