Comments about Fletch’s Work

Vickie Bray

Director of Human Resources, Stonebriar Church

I appreciate the breadth of information and know it will be used. It was a delight to work with you and I expect my replacement will continue working with you in the future.

Keith Duff

Executive Pastor, Village Bible Church

Why do a Compensation Analysis on our own? We outsourced our compensation framework 10 years ago. I’ll never take it back!

A third-party compensation study increases the integrity quotient of your church, so that people don’t think the staff are setting their own salaries.

His detailed comments …

  • You want to pay competitively and fairly, but what comps do you use?  Setting compensation can seem self-serving since the XP is, after all, part of the staff!
  • Compensation is an important part of caring for staff. We like to say, We don’t want our staff to live like paupers because they work for a church, nor do we want them to live like princes.
  • Compensation studies take a lot of time and energy to do well. In the end, if done internally, they come across as self-serving. From a leadership standpoint, staff almost always assume they deserve more and think there’s wiggle room to give them more.

  • It’s neutral, so your board leaders and congregation can trust it.
  • A third-party compensation study increases the integrity quotient of your church, so that people don’t think the staff are setting their own salaries.
  • It’s easy! Let someone else do the work for you.
  • A third-party compensation model lets staff know that the model is set. It’s not up for debate—and it’s competitive and generous.

  • The compensation model should be designed to last several years. We update ours every 3-4 years.
  • If you’re aren’t using a third-party for a compensation study, I would highly recommend you make the change.

  • We used XPastor for our last two compensation studies (an Analysis and later an Update) and have been very pleased with the results. Fletch completed the study and then presented it via Zoom to our board for questions—very helpful. This has made compensation easy and allowed us to set compensation with excellence.
  • I highly recommend having a third party complete a compensation study for your church. There are several good options. Pick one. From my experience, I recommend Fletch!

Elder, Presbyterian Church in the Southwest

I have referred to your study several times over the past few weeks as I have been leading our Sr. Pastor Review Committee.

The information that you provided in the study was very helpful as it allowed me to use data to develop our compensation recommendation. The compensation discussion was succinct, data based, and meaningful.

The best part is that we quickly gained agreement and left the meeting confident that we had made the right decision.

In the past, compensation discussions were often lengthy, filled with opinions rather than data, and not characterized by confidence.

The detailed comments …

Our church made a wise investment when we contracted Fletch to conduct a compensation study for our rapidly growing church in a rapidly growing city. The report was filled with useful benchmark compensation data that we were able to adopt as salary bands for our pastors and church staff. Having these bands enabled compensation decisions to be made with confidence knowing how we compare to other similar size churches and communities. The study also provided comparable salaries from the community that we could use as credible rationale for our salary bands.

Having the data from the compensation study enabled church leadership to have meaningful discussions on compensation that yield confident decisions. In the past, compensation discussions were often lengthy, filled with opinions rather than data, and not characterized by confidence.

Trust and credibility are the currency of leadership. Having reliable compensation data that is based upon current information, benchmarks, and experience enables leadership to make compensation policies and decisions that protect and in fact, enhance trust and credibility.

Having a compensation process that is enabled by current and credible salary bands is both empowering for leadership and encouraging for those receiving the compensation.