Compensation and Staffing News
March 2022
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UUA Office of Church Staff Finances Mission
Guided by the values of our faith,
we equip congregations for excellence as employers
and their staff for financial competence and well-being. |
Editor's Note: We're aware of continued formatting quirks on certain platforms. Thanks for your forebearance! |
Rethinking UUA Salary Recommendations
When we shared the '22-'23 Salary Recommendations tables and resources in our January newsletter, we mentioned that we're taking a fresh look at our approach this year. Our overall goals for reviewing and updating our methodology are:
- Advancing equity,
- Improving practicality, and
- Leading with integrity.
As we look ahead to forming our '23-'24 recommendations, we anticipate incorporating some adjustments to our thinking. We may be presenting recommended salaries in a new format, too. In revisiting a longstanding program that relates to both congregational budgets and staff pay, we are aware of the unease this may cause. Please know that we have no intention of making huge changes in recommended salaries, nor will we be setting expectations of an immediate transition to a brand new system. Of course, we hope you'll say, "Hey, this is great! Why didn't you do it sooner?"
Here are some of our specific hopes for this process:
- To provide salary guidance that is intuitive and easy to use,
- To minimize cultural biases that are inherent in national wage norms,
- To smooth out differences in recommended pay levels among comparable positions, and
- To underscore the importance of process. (In other words, compensation is not just about numbers, but also about clarity and transparency in policies and decision-making.)
As part of our rethinking journey, we want to learn more about current staff compensation in UU congregations. Collecting "actuals" has been a longtime desire of our team and we're excited to be moving forward. Keep your eye out for information about our Congregational Staffing Survey coming later this spring!
The success of any new approach is, in the end, largely about how well it works for those who use it to make decisions and for those impacted by those decisions. Next month, we'll include a link in this newsletter to a few questions for you about how you use our existing recommendations, how they are helpful, and what you can imagine being better. We're eager to hear from you and to learn from you. |
Definition of "Compensation" for Benefits Purposes
Employer contributions to the UU Retirement Plan, as well as premiums for our Life and Long-Term Disability insurance plans, are all directly tied to an employee's level of compensation. (Health and Dental Plan premiums are unrelated to compensation.) When it comes to benefits, what exactly counts as compensation? Here are the basics:
Insurance Plans
Life and Long-Term Disability premiums are based on percentages of an employee's regular wages. (This is salary and housing for ministers.)
- The minister's in lieu of FICA payment (self-employment tax offset) is not included in the calculation.
- Occasional one-time payments, such as a bonus, are not included.
Retirement Plan
Employer contributions to the UU Retirement Plan are made as a percentage of the actual wages paid to an employee. This includes the minister's housing allowance. If pay varies from one pay period or another, the contribution will vary, as well.
- Most one-time payments, such as bonuses and moving expense reimbursements, are included in the calculation.
- When a staff member leaves employment, vacation payout is included, but severance pay is not included.
- Participating employers have the option to exclude the minister's in lieu of FICA (self-employment tax offset) and/or any amounts imputed as taxable income for Life and LTD insurance purposes. By default, they are included. Check Election #4 on your organization's Employer Participation Agreement to see whether your congregation has chosen to exclude these items.
Click on the button below for the Retirement Plan's more complete definition of compensation. |
UU Retirement Plan Tip #7
From September through June, we're diving into the UU Retirement Plan's Top 10 Tips.
Tip #7: Avoiding and Correcting Errors
Have you completed the Retirement Plan section of the Benefits Tune-up Workbook recently? It's a great way to minimize the chance of mistakes - or at least to catch them while they are small and easy to fix.
What if you discover that an operational error has been made?*
Report the error to RetirementPlan@uua.org. Our Retirement Plan Employer Liaison can answer your questions and companion you through the process of fixing errors through the IRS' Fix-It Guide. The objective of the process is to make any impacted employees (and former employees) whole, in other words, to put them in the financial situation they would have been in had the error not been made.
*Our Retirement Plan Team shares that the most common operational error among our UU employers is neglecting to make employer contributions for employees who have met the eligibility criteria. (Reminder: those eligible for contributions must receive them and cannot opt out.) See this Knowledge Base article on determining eligibility for employer contributions. |
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