Islamic schools in a low-unemployment environment
By Lisa Kahler
May/June 2023
If you’re short-staffed going into 2023, you’re not alone. According to Comeet Resources, 52% of U.S. companies report that overcoming staffing shortages is harder than just one year ago, especially for schools and nonprofits, as wages and benefits tend to be less than those offered by private employers. For example, 69% of K-12 public schools reported their primary challenge for the 2022-23 school year was the lack of candidates — 53% of public schools started the school year understaffed (National Center for Education Statistics, Sept. 7, 2022, News Release).
In its “COVID-19 & Islamic Schools: 2020-2021 Year in Review,” the Islamic Schools League of America (ISLA) stated that 52% of Islamic school principals indicated that “hiring and retaining highly qualified staff” is a major concern. A quick search on Indeed revealed that Islamic school employees in California are paid $15-22/hour — the state’s minimum wage is $15. The same search revealed that Arabic teacher positions at public schools nationwide pay $22-29/hour.
With the national unemployment rate at 3.5% (December 2022), few out-of-work people are looking for jobs. In March 2022, 44% of current employees reported looking for a new job, and 50% of them said they were looking for higher pay (CNBC.com). Given these realities, how do Islamic schools, already operating on a shoestring budget, find employees?
The hiring and retention process, along with its associated activities, can be loosely grouped into five categories: planning for future hires, the pre-hire application process, hiring and onboarding, retention and recognition, and off-boarding. Putting sustained time and effort into the “planning” stage results in long-term dividends.
Planning for Future Hires
According to Felixglobal, “Talent pools are a database of people who could effectively fill the boots of any of your current employees should they decide that it’s time to move on. It’s your contingency plan and an essential method of reducing the cost and time to hire and ensuring your business’s productivity is not affected too much by resource and skill shortages.”
One way to establish this resource is to get to know your current and former part-time (as well as current full-time) employees, parent volunteers and alumni by entering the following data into a spreadsheet: names, contact information, education level, skills, employment status, references, supervisor feedback and interests. Ask current employees for referrals, as they’ll only vouch for qualified individuals, and keep the list’s members in the loop by signing them up for the school newsletter and other forms of communication.
Individuals who want to develop their skills can be encouraged through professional development opportunities and/or stipends. Such programs encourage employee engagement and provide the school with more qualified employees and/or individuals to meet its long-term needs.
When positions become available, you can quickly identify potential candidates who are already engaged with your organization and inquire if they would be interested. This has the advantages of keeping them in the talent pool if they aren’t interested, and also reduces the “time to hire” process.
Referrals, internal hires, training from within and hiring from an existing talent pool speed up the hiring process, shorten onboarding, reduce costs and increase retention and employee morale. Hiring known talent also reduces the new employee’s overall anxiety, as he/she already knows others in the workspace.
Real-Life Example 1. On average, school X has 30 full- and part-time staff. Annually, one or two individuals resign at the end of each school year. With the onset of Covid, coupled with increased student growth, additional paraprofessionals, substitutes, afterschool Quran teachers and teachers, were needed.
In response, the administration team created an informal list of all involved parents and part-time employees and, over the school year, reached out to the most promising of them to “volunteer” in classrooms to do arts-and-crafts activities. After each “volunteer” session, the supervising teachers and designated administrator reviewed this individual’s performance.
Based on this initial analysis, the school admin team identified two individuals with excellent classroom skills and a professional demeanor. We offered them substitute teacher positions for the remainder of the school year and, when openings emerged, full-time positions for the upcoming school year. At the end of the school year, three second-tier candidates who had been asked to volunteer multiple times during the second semester were offered part-time positions for the next school year.
This approach enabled the admin team to spend the summer focusing on curriculum development. While it took time to develop and monitor the potential talent pool, it provided immediate dividends and provided a potential pool of candidates before the school year began.
Real-Life Example 2. In its regular employee review sessions, school Y noted that one paraprofessional and one full-time teacher were being underused and therefore looking for other jobs. Learning that the paraprofessional was interested in working with an older student, they increased her job satisfaction by reassigning her to a higher grade level the following year.
The middle school teacher, who needed a challenge, was encouraged to obtain her school admin credential. Her classwork required the analysis of student data that the school had to provide as part of its accreditation process. The school provided a stipend and upgraded her job title, thereby obtaining a trained assistant administrator who is now more engaged and can substitute for admin team members. A win-win situation for all.
Additional Options
Another option is to work with the local community college to develop an internship program. By partnering with a teacher training program, students may perform their mandatory service hours at your schools as tutors or classroom volunteers assisting the lead teacher. A supervised intern program can educate interns about your community’s religious norms and expectations.
Although a less direct way of expanding the talent pool and obtaining possible employees, it does provide awareness within the community, positive engagement with Muslim organizations and interacting with qualified individuals who may have otherwise never heard of your institution.
Job Descriptions
Part of this process consists of developing accurate job descriptions that clearly state the position’s title, primary responsibilities, required and recommended qualifications, as well as salary range. Not all states require the final item.
A bank of concise job descriptions allows the school admin team and/or HR lead to quickly and efficiently advertise, both internally and externally, for available positions. This can also be done to the school community through social media, school newsletters, mosque bulletins and websites that have free and adaptable templates.
When screening initial applicants, an accurate job description allows the hiring team to easily identify those candidates who meet the minimum standards and to ensure that all applications are reviewed with the same criteria.
Key Steps in the Overall Hiring and Retention Process
Developing a robust talent pool is a cost- and time-effective approach to meet a school’s unexpected future needs. According to Talentguard, “Talent pools are crucial to organizations who are prioritizing strategic workforce planning, succession planning or long-term recruitment. They are also a marker of top performing organizations.” Accurate job descriptions, internship programs and professional development for current employees are other key methods that bolster the hiring process’ planning stage.
Achieving success in this undertaking is the result of several steps, such as the following.
• Maintain an up-to-date talent pool database on individuals already connected to the organization and referrals, and identify and clearly list the available position’s scope and requirements.
• Post it internally and externally, request referrals from external stakeholders and hiring organizations, and identify those applicants who meet the position’s minimum qualifications.
• Before hiring an applicant, administer tests, role-playing and demos so he/her can demonstrate his/her skills and capabilities; arrange one or more sessions using standardized questions and role-play scenarios; and verify the candidate’s information and rank him/her via a set process.
• When contacting a potential employee, send him/her a written document clearly stating all of the position’s relevant aspects and state the date on which all statutory forms, identification verification and other organizational paperwork must be completed and received.
• Introduce the new employee to the company’s staff and protocols, arrange for a seasoned veteran to help him/her transition and provide workplace advice, determine the length of his/her probation period and provide extra support.
• Gauging the new employee’s job performance is crucial. This necessitates supervisors’ holding regular meetings during which the employee’s progress, areas of concern and future goals will be discussed. At a minimum, formal and informal evaluations must be conducted once a year.
• Managerial staff at all levels must also pay attention to ongoing relationship-building among employees and team members, as well as foster employee engagement and recognize individual or team contributions if they want to achieve lower turnover rates.
• Have a clear departure process in place that covers both firing an unsuitable employee as well as one who is leaving voluntarily. This includes an exit interview, the return of company materials (physical and digital), recognition for long-term employees and offering ongoing engagement opportunities.
Lisa Kahler is educational program manager, MuslimKidsTV.
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