December 2018

Compensation Worksheet and Resources

Are you aware that the cost of benefits is often 40% or more of an employee's salary? Our Compensation Worksheet can assist you in budgeting appropriately for benefits for all of your staff.

We've created a video that offers advice and perspective on each line of the Compensation Worksheet:

Salary Recommendations for July 2019 - June 2020 are now posted on our Salary Recommendations for Congregational Staff page. Keep in mind that our charts are based on national wage surveys: they do not take into account state wage laws or local norms. Also remember that while our recommendations have increased 1.8% from 2018-2019, the cost of living is projected to rise about 3% in 2019. (The Social Security COLA for 2019 is 2.8%.) When adjusting salaries for continuing staff, this is a key benchmark.

About 40 congregations have moved to a higher or lower Geo Index this cycle. Be sure to look up your congregation on our Geo Index Listing for '19-'20.* We only change the Geo Index of a congregation after wage data places it in a different range two years in a row. This avoids "hopping back and forth" for congregations on the cusp of two Geo Index ranges.

The positions and job titles in your congregation probably don't align exactly with the Capsule Job Descriptions* used for our salary charts. It may be appropriate to adjust salaries up or down to account for differences in roles - or to blend two jobs within or across job categories.

For Midsize III congregations and larger, we've added a Director of Finance and Operations capsule description to our Administration and Operations category; this position is set 10% higher than the Business Administrator position. If you have been paying someone as a Business Administrator and now believe that the Director of Finance and Operations description is a better match for their responsibilities, we hope that you'll strive to move them into the new range over the next one to two years.

Our Guide to Salary Recommendations* has gotten a light edit. This is worth reading every year or whenever you are reviewing or adjusting salaries for staff.

* Refresh the page/document if you don't get the newest version.

Reminders for 2019

As we welcome the new calendar year, please remember the following:

Professional Interim Training: Spring Session Begins March 18

Twice a year, the UUA Office of Church Staff Finances hosts a seven-week, online interim training for professional staff in congregations.

Staff will find this training useful if:

Professional Interim Training:

Participants have weekly reading and written assignments, and there are four required webinars. For details about the session beginning March 18, see our Professional Interim Training page.

Compensation and Staffing News Returns in Mid-February

Jan Gartner, Compensation and Staffing Practices Manager, is taking the second part of her sabbatical starting at the close of UUA business on December 21. She returns to work on February 13. The rest of the Office of Church Staff Finances team is available to help you with compensation questions while Jan is away.

We'll take the month of January off from publishing Compensation and Staffing News. Look for the next issue in mid-February, and remember that back issues are posted on the OCSF Publications page.