Strategic human resources, duty of care and safeguarding

1HR as a strategic lever

Salaries often account for the largest share of an NGO's costs, and the quality of aid depends above all on people. An HR strategy answers four questions: which skills will we need in three years? Where will we find them (recruit, train, partner)? How will we keep them (pay, conditions, meaning, development)? How will we prepare succession for key posts?

Workforce planning starts from the funding scenarios. For each scenario, you calculate the staff needed, the gaps and the transition costs (recruitment, end-of-contract payments under local labour law). Contracts must be aligned with the length of funding while respecting the law: successive fixed-term contracts are regulated in many countries, and end-of-contract payments must be provisioned.

Pay rests on a salary scale based on job classification, a local market salary survey (often carried out jointly by NGOs), and a clear policy for adjusting to inflation. An opaque or inconsistent scale is one of the leading causes of labour disputes and departures.

HR indicators for leadership: turnover rate by category, average time to recruit key posts, share of leadership posts held by national staff, vacancy rate, absenteeism, and well-being survey results.

2Developing people and preparing succession

The 70-20-10 model reminds us that about 70% of learning comes from experience (assignments, projects with responsibility), 20% from relationships (mentoring, coaching, peers) and 10% from formal training. An effective development plan therefore combines demanding assignments, support and targeted training.

Performance management sets clear objectives, regular check-ins and an annual appraisal based on results and expected behaviours (a competency framework, for example the CHS Alliance core humanitarian competency framework). Performance problems are dealt with early, with a written improvement plan, support and deadlines, before any disciplinary procedure.

The succession plan identifies for each key post (country director, finance manager, security manager) at least one potential successor and their preparation plan. It is also a concrete lever for localisation: moving a leadership post from international to national staff requires two to three years of deliberate preparation, not a simple decision to replace.

3The employer's duty of care

The duty of care is the employer's obligation to take all reasonable measures to protect staff against foreseeable risks, including on assignment. It covers security, physical and mental health, working and living conditions, insurance, evacuation and support after an incident. It applies to national staff as well as international staff, even if risks and means may differ.

The case of Dennis v Norwegian Refugee Council (Oslo District Court, 2015) was a landmark for the sector: an employee kidnapped during an attack at the Dadaab camp (Kenya) in 2012 obtained compensation, the court having found that the organisation had been grossly negligent in failing to act on known risks. The lessons: a known risk must be analysed, measures must be actually applied, and decisions must be documented.

In practice, the duty of care requires: up-to-date risk assessments shared with staff, a security briefing before any assignment, clear information and informed consent about the risks, suitable insurance (including for national staff), access to care and psychological support, rest periods, and incident management that takes care of the people affected.

A frequent and dangerous inequality: evacuation, insurance or psychological support measures reserved for international staff. The organisation must be able to explain and defend every difference in treatment in light of the real risks.

4Safeguarding and PSEA: the responsibility of leaders

Safeguarding means all the measures taken so that neither staff, nor programmes, nor partners cause harm to people, in particular sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) has set six core principles on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), including: sexual exploitation and abuse constitute gross misconduct and are grounds for termination; sexual activity with children under 18 is prohibited regardless of the local age of consent; exchanging money, employment, goods or services for sex is prohibited, including assistance that is due; sexual relationships with beneficiaries are strongly discouraged because they are based on unequal power dynamics; any concern must be reported; managers must create and maintain an environment that prevents such abuse.

The system includes: a policy signed by all staff and partners, safer recruitment (reference checks with explicit questions about misconduct, participation in the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, which allows member organisations to share information on proven misconduct), training, reporting mechanisms accessible to communities, and specialised investigation capacity.

The survivor-centred approach guides every response: safety, confidentiality, respect for the person's choices, non-discrimination, and referral to services (health, psychosocial support, legal aid) even if the person does not want an investigation.

5Organisational culture, well-being and diversity

Culture shows in what leaders tolerate. A director who protects a high-performing but abusive staff member destroys years of policies with a single decision. Sector inquiries (for example the report of the independent commission set up by Oxfam on sexual misconduct, accountability and culture change, published in 2019) showed that abuse thrives where hierarchy is strong, speaking up is hard and reporting mechanisms are unreliable.

Well-being is managed with structural measures rather than slogans: realistic workload, sufficient staffing, leave actually taken, confidential psychosocial support, peer support, and training managers to spot signs of burnout (the Maslach model describes three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation or cynicism, and a sense of inefficacy).

Diversity, equity and inclusion concern gender, nationality, disability, age and background. Useful indicators: breakdown by gender and status at the different levels of responsibility, pay gaps for equal posts, accessibility of workplaces, and inclusion survey results. Women remain under-represented in country leadership posts in many organisations: concrete measures (mentoring, working conditions compatible with family life, transparent selection criteria) have more effect than statements.