Tips and Resources on Compensation and Personnel Matters

Compensation and Staffing News
June 2017
 
New! Onboarding Checklist and Benefits Summary Chart

Do you have a new employee joining your congregation's staff team this summer? You need to be ready for them, to ensure that necessary paperwork is completed, and to meet critical benefits enrollment deadlines. And, of course, you want your new staff member to be warmly welcomed and to have a positive and productive first few days on the job.

We're aware that not every employee in our congregations has a smooth onboarding experience, so we've created a Welcoming and Onboarding checklist to help you. This resource is in "beta" mode, meaning that we're eager for you to use it and give us your feedback. You'll find the checklist, in both Excel and PDF formats, along with a feedback survey, on our Staffing Practices page.

Our other new resource is a Benefits Summary Chart, which provides an at-a-glance overview of eligibility, enrollment windows, and congregational requirements for all of our benefit plans. Keep it handy as you welcome new staff! (Links to comprehensive information about each plan can be found on our Staff Benefits and Compensation page.)
Refreshed Compensation Guidelines

Our standards for congregational salaries and benefits are outlined in our  UUA Compensation Guidelines. We recently updated this document to add clarity and reflect minor changes to some benefit plans. 


The one substantive difference you will see is that we now articulate a guideline for the congregation's contribution to the dental insurance premium, to match our guidance for health insurance. Although we've been advising this for some time, it was not clearly stated in the previous version of our Guidelines.

We've been asked how our Compensation Guidelines are best applied to  part-time positions:
  • Salary recommendations should be prorated based on the percentage of full-time equivalent (40 hours/week, year-round).
  • In most cases, benefit costs based on salary (retirement contribution, long-term disability premium, and life insurance premium) automatically become directly proportional to what they would be for a full-time position at the same rate of pay.
  • The congregation's contribution to health and dental premiums for eligible part-time staff should be set through policy that can be applied consistently to all employees. (A reminder that eligibility itself is determined by our plan rules, not by congregational policy.)
  • Vacation is generally proportional, based on percentage of full-time equivalent.
  • Professional expenses automatically become proportional if expressed as a percentage of salary. If offered as a dollar figure (e.g., $5,000 for full-time), you can prorate, but do consider actual costs. (It costs as much to send a part-timer to an event as to send a full-timer.
Look for Us at General Assembly

The Office of Church Staff Finances is offering four informative and engaging workshops at GA 2017. Join us for:
  • Compensation: Considerations and Complications in a Changing World (3:15 Thurs.)
  • All's Well That Ends Well: Staff Departures (1:30 Fri.)
  • Living Our Faith: Employer-provided Health Insurance (3:15 Fri.)
  • Staff Conundrum: Creative Responses to Challenging Problems (1:30 Sat.)
And please visit us at the Office of Church Staff Finances booth! OCSF staff and Compensation Consultants will be available whenever the Exhibit Hall is open. Stop by to introduce yourself, ask questions, and check out our hands-on display board. Next to the OCSF booth is TIAA, our Retirement Plan recordkeeper. TIAA representatives come to GA to serve Plan participants and administrators, and anyone with funds invested in TIAA; do take advantage of their presence. Our booths will be located across from the UUA Expressway.

Jan Gartner | Compensation and Staffing Practices Manager |  JGartner@uua.org
 UUA Office of Church Staff Finances
  
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