Harassment investigation, employee surveys and...
sarahdahl@columinate.coop
608-575-2199
"Employees are facing innumerable challenges, offering them a moment to give voice to their challenges and triumphs feels like the right thing to do" No matter how closely you work with your staff, there are some things that aren’t openly discussed. Regularly conducting well designed employee surveys is an effective way to bring these aspects to light and hear directly from [...]
If you observe what you believe to be wrongful conduct, you have the right and the duty to report it without fear of retaliation. Definition of wrongful conduct Wrongful conduct includes serious improprieties that potentially impact the integrity and effective operation of Your Co-op. Examples of wrongful conduct include, but are not limited to: Violations of federal, state or municipal law Sexual harassment or [...]
Hiring a General Manager is one of the biggest decisions a food co-op Board of Directors will ever make. A thorough, thoughtful and transparent process is needed to ensure the best outcome. Your Content Goes Here Our experts provide full process support to both the search committee and the Board of Directors to ensure the [...]
Leading an independent grocery store has never been as difficult as it is now. And leading a multi-stakeholder organization like a cooperative brings additional complexities to an already challenging role. Your Content Goes Here Leading an independent grocery store has never been as difficult as it is now. And leading a multi-stakeholder organization like a cooperative [...]
Early in the movie Argo, Ben Affleck’s character Tony Mendez describes the dangers of rescuing the American hostages. He tells the assembled government decision-makers: You don’t want to be in a position of needing to sneak people out of a hostile country, but if you are, you use a professional.
By Sarah Dahl 191 July-August 2017 No one is a perfect communicator, and no co-op experiences completely effective communication at all times. While some co-ops may do better than others—at least as reported in more than 200 staff surveys conducted by CDS Consulting Co-op—communication issues are nearly always on the list of things that staff want to see improved. While communication issues can be as [...]
By Sarah Dahl, Lauren Olson 183 Mar-Apr 2016 Half of National Co+op Grocers member co-ops surveyed are under pressure to increase staff wages, according to a 2015 report. This pressure is not unique to co-ops. With efforts led by groups such as Fight for 15 and dialogues at local, state, and federal levels about minimum wage, there is a national spotlight on increasing wages. [...]
By Sarah Dahl, Melanie Reid 180 Sept-Oct 2015 The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, or FLSA, is a federal statute that provides certain protections to workers. These protections include the 40-hour work week, a national minimum wage, and non-oppressive employment of minors. Additionally, the FLSA guarantees time-and-a-half pay for overtime in certain jobs. The FLSA allows employers to classify certain employees as [...]
By Sarah Dahl 180 Sept-Oct 2015 There are two commonly seen staffing problems in co-ops that may at first seem unrelated: At Co-op A, sales had been declining for the last few years. Personnel costs, unfortunately, had not been declining, leaving the co-op in a tough position. The finance manager, who had been with the co-op for the last 15 years, decided it was [...]
