The Circle continues to create culturally grounded policies and practices that prioritize supporting staff wellness. During Cousin’s Day at the 2023 Fall Feast, The Circle’s Winter team – Winter Steward Dena Klashinsky, Fall-Winter Coordinator Nicole Lamy, and CEO Kris Archie – spoke about their experience of them, why they matter, and what it feels like to receive, experience and practice these policies created by and for Indigenous women’s wellbeing.
Taken together, these policies and practices represent a bundle for staff wellness.
At the core of each of the practices is a commitment to centring the wellness of Indigenous women, embodying The Circle’s organizational values, and honouring the wholeness of each staff person, understanding that we are not whole without being able to care for and connect with our families, communities, and lands.
We develop practices and policies that invite whole people to show up and to decompress from the harmful workplaces that they have had to exist in before arriving with us. We recognize that Indigenous people don’t exist just by themselves, they don’t just belong to themselves. Their well-being is actually contingent on the well-being of their families and their communities and their nations. And so if we take care of the individuals, that enables good care for all of the relations that they have outside of their workplace.
– Kris Archie
Bringing your full self and being supported to care for family, chosen family, and community in the workplace brings up feelings and questions about whether or not we are deserving. It’s a journey of unlearning and embodying that we need to be well and that we deserve to also centre our wellbeing to do this good work.
Reflecting on feelings of guilt that can arise when we take time for our family forces us to ask who is served by that idea, that we should feel guilt for prioritizing our family? And I’ll tell you what, it’s not our people. It’s capitalism, it’s patriarchy, it’s white supremacy. That’s who we’re in service to when we buy into the idea that prioritizing family and cultural connection and wellbeing matters less than our work.
– Kris Archie
The policies and practices shared in the session have been years in the making, some are still being tested and refined, while new ones are constantly being developed. Where possible, we will share links to examples or templates that can be used and adapted to suit other organizations. We would also love to learn from other policies and practices centring the well being of Indigenous women that have been implemented. If you have some to share, please reach out to our Winter team.
Here are some insights that were shared at the 2023 Fall Feast about The Circle’s bundle for staff wellness and how it positively impacts Indigenous women, and beyond.
Interview Process
From the very first interaction with The Circle, potential staff members are invited into a different way of doing things.
Our recruitment and application process is different. We have an informal meet and greet. We share most of the interview questions with candidates ahead of time, because we want people to come with some thoughtful consideration to their work. We’re not always just looking for an off-the-cuff answer. We compensate people for their interview time, recognizing the labour required to prepare for and be part of processes while also coordinating time away from their home and/or work life.
– Kris Archie
Our goal is not simply to create a process where we learn about the skills and wisdom of people applying to work at The Circle. We also want to know more about who they are and provide opportunities for them to learn more about us and our work.
During the interview process, we received the questions ahead of time. They weren’t just easy to fill out with your typical answers like, ‘Oh, I’m a good facilitator,’ or ‘I’m good with computers.’ That wasn’t all that mattered. That’s not all that matters here. Questions were deeper – such as who is this facilitator, where are you from. So it felt really special. The Circle cared about the person, wanted to get to know me and it felt very intentional.
– Nicole Lamy
Onboarding
New staff members are invited into an intentionally slow onboarding process that gives them time to get set-up, reflect on and decompress from previous work experiences, and become really grounded in the work by connecting with and building relationships with the rest of the team. We are invited to unlearn the urgency and white supremacist understanding of ‘productivity,’ to slow down and practice presence and more depth in the work.
Those first 3 months always seem so critical. Onboarding can be really overwhelming. Whereas here, there was a very slow, gradual work-up into things. It wasn’t just about learning about your position and the role in the organization and trying to memorize everything right away. It was getting to learn more deeply about the values of the work. And also bringing myself as an Indigenous woman and the experiences that I have had and lived experiences into my role. So it felt like a very whole-some experience.
– Nicole Lamy
We experienced an invitation to pause, to ground ourselves, to be more self reflective – to let go of notions that we have about productivity and efficiency, what it means to contribute. Intentional onboarding provides so much spaciousness, and a recognition that it’s about quality, not quantity. We value presence and honour that. We come to fully embody our values by recognizing that caring for ourselves is an act of resistance. It is an act of empowerment. It is essential to the work that we’re doing as individuals, as a group, as an organization – and our desire to create change in the sector and in society overall.
– Dena Klashinsky
I really have to tell people, don’t check emails until you use a work day to set up an ergonomic work area. Use work time to go to the Apple Genius Bar and get a tutorial on how to use your new device. These are all pieces that belong to your work day, that people should be compensated for. They’re not meant for you to pick up and do on your evenings and weekends. I think many organizations rely on the generosity of new hires to do these kinds of things on their own time – so new employees cram, and read manuals and “catch up” rather than actually get grounded in their new workplace. From the beginning of a new hire’s time with us – from the interview thru to onboarding, they will start to have a felt sensation that how we work is truly different.
– Kris Archie
4-Day Work Week
The Circle started a 4-day work week pilot in the Summer 2021 and moved to a 4-day work week year-round in 2022. There are many documented benefits of a 4-day work week. Other organizations in the sector have piloted or adopted a 4-day week in recent years, but what it looks and feels like at The Circle is different. For The Circle, it has never been about productivity. Our purpose is to prioritize connection, nourishment, and wellness.
I’ve embraced Fridays as my bonus day – an opportunity to focus on self-care, take care of appointments for myself and family, and run errands. As an Indigenous woman, a mother, a community member, it can be challenging to carve out time for myself and be accountable in that way. I now view Fridays as a personal work day – when I focus on the important work of self-care, and connecting with chosen family and family members who help to fill my cup. It gives me space to focus on restorative activities, reconnecting with myself and ensuring that I’m refueling so that I can be more present and supportive of my daughter, family, and community, and truly embrace the weekend.
I’ve had a long history working in the non-profit sector where resources – including time – have been limited. I’ve worked myself to exhaustion. It has been a process for me to truly embrace the abundance and spaciousness provided at The Circle, and let go of a scarcity mindset.
I’m so grateful for the 4-day work week but it also creates some tension. Sometimes, it feels like 4 days is not enough. Sometimes I will dip into my inbox on days off, but there are eyes that tend to come and remind me to close the laptop. I still need reminders to value rest and recognize its importance. I’m in the process of reclaiming:
“Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humans. We are enough. The systems cannot have us.” (From Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, by Tricia Hersey)
– Dena Klashinsky
Having worked in previous roles where we only worked 4 days, I have found with The Circle, that I take this extra day to be intentional about what I’m doing and how I’m taking care of myself. So whether I’m hanging out at home, or checking out an art gallery, or taking my dog for a walk in the park by the water, I try to spend my time reflecting and practicing presence, being really intentional about this time. Whereas in other roles at different orgs, I might still do some work that day or keep myself “productive” and I wasn’t as intentional with the time, which I found came with working at The Circle.
– Nicole Lamy
Head, Heart, Hands Reflections
On Mondays, The Circle team starts with a check-in call, where there is a grounding or presencing activity followed by reflections on Head, Heart, Hands questions. Staff share back to one another what comes up in our reflections; anything from how we are feeling in our bodies to how we are preparing for the week ahead. On Thursdays, we have a check-out call to similarly reflect on the week that passed and think about how we might ground ourselves and find nourishment over the weekend. Through regular practice, the Head, Heart, Hands structure (H3s, for short) has become our go-to reflective tool for both internal discussion and external gatherings. It is a practice that supports the deepening of self-awareness, an invitation to notice and listen to the wisdom of our bodies while also identifying shared learnings which inform our work and help us to model and practice discernment in our actions and work alongside each other.
One of my favorite practices at The Circle since starting has been the Head, Heart, Hands. I found it really challenging at first, feeling grounded and reflecting. It felt like a lot of work. Now, my weeks don’t feel as good if I’m not at the check-in or checkout. So that’s one of the things I’ve grown to really appreciate.
– Nicole Lamy
We use H3s to find some way to embody deeper wisdom about wise action. So it’s really a tool for self-reflection and awareness but, ultimately it’s also about discernment. Over time, what it does is create an opportunity for reflection that becomes more and more natural and also begins to invite people to honour the wisdom of their bodies. Of course, being connected to our bodies is also about being connected to our ancestors and being connected to our lands.
– Kris Archie
Health and Wellness Benefits
The Circle offers a generous health and wellness benefits package and using those benefits is considered essential. The Winter Steward provides seasonal updates to staff about their usage and remaining balances, and staff are actively encouraged to use up all available benefits before the year is out.
We remind staff to book the dentist appointment, access massages, see the podiatrist, submit your expenses so that you get your money back. This is from the leadership down, saying we pay for these benefits, we want people to optimize them. So they’re actively in a conversation with the operations manager who supports them to think through how to use them, book the appointments, use them up.
Many Indigenous organizations don’t often feel like they have the money to provide health and wellness benefits. I really, really recommend that you decide to do one less program and take the program money and invest it into wellness benefits, because the well being of the team will always create deeper benefits than a program that you might offer or operate. And spend as much as you can on them. You know, max out all the limits, do all of the things that you can and really encourage people to make use of them. We work with an Indigenous benefits provider, Many Nations, who works to secure us really great benefit options.
– Kris Archie
It’s incredibly gratifying to have the responsibility to check in with the team on a seasonal basis, to remind them of the importance of taking care of ourselves. I’ve had many a chuckle, through both email exchanges and conversations, when I see reflections of myself in others. Thinking of the discomfort we feel even imagining asking for support to offset caregiving expenses because we need to travel for work.
It’s really gratifying to be able to extend that support, to remind the team that this is an embodiment of our values – a commitment to our values and our wellness. We all have a responsibility to embrace that, and value self care in a really tangible and concrete way. This is a critical investment that benefits not only the individual. It also benefits our team, our work, and our communities. It is preventative and truly strengthens the whole.
– Dena Klashinsky
Leaves
In addition to Vacation Leave, The Circle offers staff other diverse types of Leave, including Health & Wellness, Cultural, Caregiving, Learning & Development, Volunteering, and more. Like health and wellness benefits, staff are given seasonal reminders about their available leave days and encouraged to use them up.
Cultural Leave is one of the things that I always felt couldn’t be a part of my job. It was something extra, or depended on how many emails I got through and how much work I did. Only then would it be okay to take time to go strawberry picking or take an extra day to go to Métis Days. At The Circle, I can really embrace it as part of myself and my work, and it’s welcomed. I don’t have to hide it. This has meant a lot to me.
– Nicole Lamy
At The Circle, there’s an invitation to use Cultural Leave whenever we need it. I come from a family of fishers, and fish is sustenance. It’s essential for me to be present and work with/support my family during fishing season. It’s wonderful to be able to request Cultural Leave, even on short notice. You don’t always know when the fish are coming! You need to mobilize quickly to be able to make the most of abundance as it becomes available.
Kris understands that this provides nourishment not only on a physical level, but a spiritual level as well – when we’re able to come together as a family to harvest, process fish, and share teachings. A lot rests on the shoulders of my uncle who does most of the harvesting on behalf of our family. Then there’s a lot of work processing and making sure that we’re putting it away for daily sustenance, to nourish our family and feast in ceremony, etc. My daughter has been helping to process fish since she was in a baby carrier on my belly. It fills my cup when I’m able to be present for my family in that way and make sure my mom has fish in her freezer through the winter.
Sometimes it pops up very unexpectedly – like, there’s a fishery this weekend, we need to be ready to move! In other workplaces, I wouldn’t even consider asking for Monday off when it’s Friday afternoon and the office is closed. When I messaged my boss to ask, her immediate response was, “you go get that fisssss!”.
It’s without question. There is nothing more fundamental to who we are as coastal people: connecting to our waters, and feeding our families. I truly value and appreciate the flexibility provided with our cultural leave, and the recognition that our cultural practices come in many forms, all of which nourish and sustain us as individuals and communities.
– Dena Klashinsky
During COVID, The Circle extended Sick Leave from 5 to 10 days, to account for instances of long COVID as well as to meet the caregiving needs of our staff’s family and community members. We have since adopted this as a general Caregiving Leave, which staff can access if needed.
When you need to take care of people, we are committed to help make that happen. If someone is sitting at their desk and they have elder care or childcare concerns on their mind – that’s of no helpfulness to their body, spirit or emotional well-being. It’s much more valuable for people to be tending to the things that matter and are important to them. I think as leaders, we need to bring a kind of generosity and grace to how we care for folks around the caregiving they provide to their family and community.
– Kris Archie
Cultural Sabbatical for CEO
Understanding that connecting with the land, community, and culture is an essential part of what makes an Indigenous-led organization truly Indigenous-led, the CEO is offered a seasonal Cultural Sabbatical every quarter.
The cultural sabbatical provides one week each season to be back home in my community. This is not bereavement or vacation time. It is a requirement of this work, to be an Indigenous woman, to be an Indigenous leader. That really requires that I am able to fill my cup and nourish my spirit. The fastest way for me to do that is to have an opportunity to go home not only when it’s time for ceremony and time for burying people, but actually to go home just to be at home – to be surrounded by family and be with the land.
Personally, learning to accept and model abundance has been one of the biggest difficulties of the leadership in this work for me. I had to work through my internally held beliefs of the dominant norm of Indigenous peoples – and strengthen myself to resist the white gaze in the sector that says the Indians are lazy, they don’t work hard enough, that they’re a bunch of slackers, they’re disorganized, you know, all of these stories. This isn’t news to any of you in the room – you all know these kinds of narratives that are attached to who we are as Indigenous peoples.
I had to work through that very deeply for myself, so that I could bring forward a sense of power and clarity that we were going to do things differently here. Then I had to prepare myself for the backlash of this abundance mindset. I would have an out of office that said we’re in a 3 week shut down over the holiday period and people would be like, “oh, must be nice.” Or like, “oh, you must not have much work to do.” And the truth is – no, we have so much work we could do but we just prioritize what we’re saying yes to and if that means that we might not be responding to your messages – it’s not because we don’t have bandwidth or capacity, but likely because we’re choosing not to. I think that kind of behaviour is unexpected and, in many ways, it is a threat. It’s uncomfortable for the settler philanthropic sector – that we aren’t fussing and running to respond to their urgency and instead, we are prioritizing our own and that of Indigenous communities.
Indigenous women living their best lives being super badass and working alongside one another deeply scares non-Indigenous folks – the power is palpable and that’s one of the joys about doing this work even if it means we are penalized for it. We will always choose to stand in our strength rather than dim our light.
– Kris Archie
The Seasonal Pathway
All these practices are supported by and exist inside the context of The Circle’s Seasonal Pathway. We believe that a diverse living system creates a more realistic, responsive and likely pathway for lasting transformation so we have been actively testing an organizational and governance approach to management, implementation, and design where we steward our work, relationships, and accountabilities based on the spirit of each season – Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Doing the work in alignment with a seasonal pathway recognizes the interconnectedness with the land and to each other, and the importance of bringing our full selves to the work.
The seasonal pathway was born out of wisdom that came to me in the spring of 2018 when I was back home in my territory. It was an invitation to consider how living systems could be part of this work. I came away with a questions about how we might find more of a natural rhythm and a pace that honoured who we are as part of a living system. The seasonal pathway has been an invitation to share leadership, to recognize that a single individual can’t possibly know all of the things that there are to know to run an organization, that one individual cannot possibly manage to the depth of relationships that we want to manage well and engage with deeply if we want to do transformational level work.
– Kris Archie
Centring the Wellness of Indigenous Women
The policies and practices shared here were built by Indigenous women to centre the wellness of Indigenous women, but they are available to all staff equally. The impact of this cannot be overstated, for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff alike.
A lot of the practices and ways of doing things are things that any organization can do – especially for Indigenous employees. Sometimes I felt where I was working in the past, the only thing that made whatever I was doing Indigenous was me being Indigenous.
– Nicole Lamy
I’ve never felt more cared for, seen, and heard as an Indigenous woman as I have at The Circle. Our organizational practices and policies truly recognize and support us as Indigenous women, as whole individuals. This is grounded in understanding what it means to be Indigenous, to be a woman, recognizing the connections and accountability that we hold to our families and our communities and therefore consciously and consistently supporting our wellbeing, and our ability to be present for both – at home, at work, and in community.
– Dena Klashinsky
As a racialized woman who is not Indigenous to these lands, what’s been really remarkable for me being a part of this system of policies and structures that have been built around the wellness of Indigenous women is that they serve me really well, too. It’s been a beautiful thing. I come from a background of doing racial justice work and working intersectionally, and the basis of intersectionality is that if Black women were free, everyone else would be free. What I’ve learned at The Circle is if Indigenous women are well, everyone gets to be well. It’s just been the beautiful realization of that promise.
– Thulasy Lettner
