Association Options has conducted several staffing assessments both within the association management company model as well as for those associations that employ their own staff. Key benefits are:
Management Models – Understand the various types of management models and their potential costs from an association management company to a hybrid (hired staff and an association management company) as well as a captive (your own) staff model.
Staff Time & FTE Review – Understand where your staff is spending their time and how many full-time equivalents are dedicated to your organization. We compare this to industry standards.
Site Visit – Association Options conducts site visits with a checklist to review technology in place, accounting methods and a staffing assessment. This report is provided to our clients confidentially.
Hourly Rate Comparison & Management Fee Review – If your association is managed by an association management company, we provide a custom service to review hourly rates and the management fee against industry benchmarks. This helps to put at ease issues around management fees and allows the organization to focus on more strategic issues.
Operating Ratio Review – Association Options reviews an association’s operating ratios to determine if management expenses exceed the industry benchmarks and what options the association has to bring it in line or to understand why issues exists. This is only one metric to review as there are others that factor into a management assessment.
Board Interviews – This is an important element in any of our management assessments and that is overall satisfaction with staff and opportunities for improvement. Association Options has developed a survey document that is proprietary and used for this purpose only. We also customize the survey to capture any additional important information.
Overall, if there is any question around the effectiveness of the management structure, including the leadership structure, conducting a management assessment is a good way to “right the ship” and strengthen the relationships with your staff and the leadership. From experience, Association Options has been able to bring positive results in this process.
