Tools & Resources

In our work with animal welfare organizations, a few themes regarding growth areas have emerged. To address these  commonly occurring issues, SeeDS researchers have created resources based on research and industry best practices. This includes shelters who have exceled in these areas. These resources and tools are provided to all SeeDS clients.

Best Practices Documents

Advancement & Promotional Opportunities: Strategic recommendations for addressing employee concerns with advancement & promotional opportunities

Cross-Departmental Teamwork: Strategic recommendations for improving teamwork across departments

Departmental Communication: Strategic recommendations for improving communication within departments

Meetings: Strategic recommendations for improving communication within departments

Organization Communication: Strategic recommendations for improving communication across the organization

Pay Satisfaction: Strategic recommendations for addressing employee concerns with pay satisfaction

Stress & Burnout: Strategic recommendations for combating stress and burnout among animal shelter workers

People Practices Self-Check

The People Practices Self-Check [PPSC] is a confidential, user-friendly online self-assessment tool intended to inspire shelters to identify “areas of opportunity” for organizational health and effectiveness focusing on topics related to the management of shelter staff.  Based on each shelter’s specific responses to a targeted list of questions, resources and links will be provided to outline each specific shelter’s next steps forward. Ultimately, the end user of the PPSC will be able to ask, “Am I doing these things?”  If the answer is no, they will be provided with specific tools to take positive steps forward.

Topics Comprising the PPSC

Building the PPSC

The topics comprising the PPSC are those that underlie the successful management of people at animal shelters. A comprehensive, multi-step process was taken to identify these topics.  As a first step, we examined 15 years of quantitative data from the Shelter Employee Engagement & Development Survey (SeeDS), completed by over 3500 employees at private and public animal shelters surrounding topics such as standard operating procedures, teamwork, volunteers, communication, training, and supervision.  Additionally, we analyzed hundreds of responses to open-ended questions such as “What are 3 strengths and 3 areas for growth within your shelter?” to ensure key content areas were covered.

Next, we reviewed scholarly literature surrounding best practices in talent management and examined health assessments from other industries. Based on this knowledge as well as trends evidenced by SeeDS, we constructed an interview protocol for executive directors and other key stakeholders within the animal sheltering industry to further assess best practices around staff management.

Finally, we conducted in-depth phone interviews with identified experts (e.g., executive directors at excellent private and public shelters; sheltering experts at The Humane Society of the United States, and industry consultants) to 1) gauge their level of agreement with the target areas we identified; 2) probe for additional areas of coverage; and 3) seek recommendations for best practices to address common areas for growth. Thus the content of the finished PPSC is founded on archives of historical shelter data, current recommendations from leading authorities in shelter management, and an examination of best practices in talent management across other organizational sectors.

The Online Assessment

The SeeDS team is proud to partner with the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to provide an online “Virtual Consultant” platform. The Virtual Consultant provides real-time feedback on critical issues in shelter management, including animal health, behavior, and enrichment; recommendations on standards of care; and “people practices” surrounding staff management.

Virtual Consultant

Frequently Asked Questions