Monday, March 5, 2018

Hey Fletch … I’m in a small church with a few part-time paid staff. We are hoping to grow them into full-time positions over the next 2 years, plus expand the staff. What is the best way to structure a pay scale that a church can grow into on the front end to avoid mis-compensated staff on the back end? How should be pay executive leadership, department heads, department staff, part-time and hourly workers?

DRF—I would recommend a simple compensation guide for your church. The first issue is not part-time vs. full-time. The issue needs to be, “what is a fair wage in our community.” You may be in an expensive urbanized area where housing costs are enormous. You may live in a state with no state income tax. Find out what a high school teacher makes in your community. Try on that salary for size. 

You may need to scale a teacher’s upwards for what you want to pay senior leaders. Perhaps keep it at the same level for department leaders and scale it downward for Assistant Pastors. There are lots of variations and variety that you will need to consider.

The great thing about a good compensation guide is that it is scalable. You can modify it in a couple of years, adjust it for inflation or add new positions. You can find lots more information in XPastor’s $49 Compensation Survey. It will show you some sample salary grids—low to high salaries for a position. Also, see results from churches around the nation, all indexed for inflation.