When Bike East Bay began our strategic planning process in 2023, we recognized the need to strengthen our team and work culture in ways that would enable us to accomplish all our other goals. This led to a strategic priority to become a first in class nonprofit that is recognized for its thriving team. We spent 2024 implementing the beginnings of our new strategic plan and have made some great progress toward this goal.
Competitive Staff BenefitsÂ
Jill, our Co-Executive Director of People and Operations, returned on January 2 from four and a half months of parental leave. Prior to 2023, Bike East Bay did not offer parental leave, and Jill was our first staff member to use it. While she was out, several staff members stepped up to take on her work to ensure seamless operations including Rebecca as Interim Co-Executive Director and Phil as Operations Manager.
We also implemented a staff sabbatical policy at the start of 2024 and Robert and Marissa were our first two staff members to utilize it. Staff are eligible for a three-week sabbatical after five years of employment, and are encouraged to use the time to rest, explore creative practices, and unplug from all work responsibilities. Again other staff members stepped up to fill any gaps while they were gone and made sure our colleagues felt supported and at ease while they were away.
COVID-19 changed the way we work and the expectations for flexibility in where we do our work. This past year we created a remote work policy that enables us to get our work done collaboratively and accomplish our goals while providing flexibility for staff to be somewhere other than the Bay Area for a longer period of time. Caitlin was able to spend a month at her family’s cabin on the East Coast, Dani had an extended visit with his family in Argentina, and Nancy spent time in Mexico with her family.Â
Inspired by other organizations, we adopted a compensation system based on equity and transparency. We built a salary table that includes job proficiency and role with one set salary per box. This table is internally published so staff have full transparency into how their salary is determined and how they can build their proficiency within their role. It also enables us to evaluate new hires using the same system as existing staff to ensure an unbiased and transparent hiring process.
Finally, we implemented a 38-hour work week by creating a light Friday schedule where we discourage meetings so staff can have focused work time, and we end the day at 3pm to give more flexibility as we ease into the weekend. We have found that our team ends the week stronger, and is better prepared to start the next week.



A Strong Team Culture
A key part of building a strong team is through camaraderie and communication. With many of our staff and instructors joining Bike East Bay within the last two years, this was even more important. First, we adapted our hybrid work policy to include two all-team in-office days. We do our best collaborative work when we are physically together, and we found that two consecutive office days encourages a good rhythm for getting cross-team projects done. Initially with only one in-office day, our time together was quickly booked with meetings, which didn’t give enough room for other types of work or collaboration. With our new schedule, meetings are more spread out, making time for spontaneous conversations, midday breaks, and time to grab a treat at Bicycle Coffee.
We also started planning regular social activities like potlucks, field trips, a visit to Alameda on the new water shuttle, and games of bocce ball next door at Plank. And the social activities extended beyond the office staff: we hosted happy hours and a ride to the Marin Museum of Bicycling for our bike education instructors and an appreciation night for our bike valet attendants. The work our staff does is rewarding but challenging and it has its hard moments, but with a spirit of togetherness we can better support each other and accomplish more.


An Engaged Board
Part of being a first in class nonprofit is having a well functioning Board of Directors. In 2024 we brought on four new board members who have already made big contributions to the organization – Corey Busay, Sean Funcheon, Hydeh Ghaffari, and Cailin Notch. Marc Hedlund stepped up to be Board Chair, and Alejandro Jasso as Board Vice Chair. As Marc recently had to step down, Alejandro is now serving as Board Chair. Others stepped up into new leadership roles too, with Mark Smith becoming chair of our fundraising committee, and Hydeh as our Treasurer. Not only has it been great to have a board to provide strategic guidance, we’re lucky to have a really engaged board: we have 3 committees (advocacy, fundraising, and executive) that accomplished a lot this year. The Board and staff put extra focus on board recruitment this year, and our work paid off – 13 people applied to join the Bike East Bay Board, our largest number of applicants in the past several years. Join us at the Bike East Bay Member meeting on February 12 to vote in the new Board members.
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As we roll into a new year and continue to make progress on our strategic priorities, we are a stronger and more cohesive staff thanks to this goal of becoming a first-in-class nonprofit.
