ADRA Peru: Recruiting and Selecting Mission-Driven Staff
The Adventist Agency for Development and Assistance Resources (ADRA) has engaged in improving its social performance management since 2005, when it began an internal reflection dialogue around the social role of microfinance. In 2009, a spike in staff turnover (to 29%) led to the realization that ADRA needed to improve its staff recruitment and selection procedures, and formalize its HR management system — especially to improve its social responsibility to staff. Its work relates to Standard 2d of the Universal Standards:
- Dimension 2: “Ensure Board, Management, and Employee Commitment to Social Goals.”
- Standard 2d: “Employees are recruited, evaluated, and recognized based on both social and financial performance criteria”
- Essential practice 2d1: “Employee job candidates are screened for their commitment to the institution’s social goals, and their ability to carry out social performance related job responsibilities, when applicable.”
ADRA’s human resource management system includes: recruitment and selection of candidates, induction program, training plan, human resources motivation plan, and staff evaluation. This document describes the initial phase, i.e. the recruitment and selection process of persons who apply for jobs in the Microfinance Project. This case study describes the development and implementation processes, and considers how well the system aligns with the Universal Standards promoted by the SPTF. The case study has been written with a specific audience in mind: microfinance providers that seek to improve their human resource management systems to better support their social mission.
