Management Innovation: Human Resources

District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency:
Care Beyond Compensation – DCHFA’s Holistic Approach to Employee Benefits

Workplace benefits are crucial to an employee’s compensation. The pandemic magnified this need and shifted employees’ values. Today competitive benefits are paramount when it comes to retaining, attracting, and engaging talent. In response to the change in the workforce, DCHFA incorporated employee wellness, care, retention, and recruitment into its strategic goals. DCHFA’s HR department was tasked to create a benefits package that would be innovative, relevant, and impactful in this new world.

Idaho Housing and Finance Association:
Employee Engagement: The Power of Moments

Employee engagement must be a priority in an organization. Idaho Housing and Finance Association implemented a plan to increase employee engagement by utilizing "The Power of Moments" as discussed by bestselling authors Chip and Dan Heath. From onboarding to retirement, key moments are identified and recognized to create long-lasting memories for employees, in turn improving engagement throughout the company.

Minnesota Housing:
Sharing Power with Communities

Inviting individuals whose qualification is living in the very predicament policies aim to solve, listening to their voices and heeding their words is what Minnesota Housing considers power sharing. With a newly created position, the Director of Equity and Inclusion, now embedded in the agency’s leadership, Minnesota Housing is striving to take advantage of every opportunity to share power with communities at every level, from internal concerns to strategy setting to external program policies.

Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency:
SMART Performance Management

In transforming to a hybrid work culture, the Agency created a new way of managing performance. The new "SMART" approach creates a forum for conversation around expectations between the manager and employee and promotes leadership, teamwork, and mentoring. It focuses on work outcomes specific to roles in place of the traditional “line of sight” supervision style. Creating more individualized plans with measurable outcomes promotes less subjective and consistent evaluations and employee growth.

Vermont Housing Finance Agency:
Housing Internships to Expand Agency Diversity

VHFA recognized the importance of having a diverse staff yet faced challenges in recruiting new talent. VHFA launched the Vermont Housing Fellow internship program to encourage students from a variety of backgrounds to become part of the affordable housing industry. The program brings graduate students to VHFA for a semester-long, paid position, helping the agency complete important tasks and making connections for permanent staffing recruitment.

Wyoming Community Development Authority:
Culture After COVID

Following COVID, feedback from our annual employee survey of overall workplace satisfaction had declined at an alarming rate. By infusing "culture" into our strategic goals, WCDA has been able to foster a more engaged, committed and efficient team. Implementation of a new recognition program in combination with intentional communication have aligned our employee experience to our core values and vision, measured by improved “Great Place To Work” certification scoring data.