UUA Office of Church Staff Finances
Guided by the values of our faith,
we equip congregations for excellence as employers
and their staff for financial competence and well-being. |
Compensation and Staffing News |
Editor's Note
Dear Readers,
Lots of changes tend to happen at this time of year, including salary adjustments and leadership turnover. Not only for benefits purposes, but to ensure effective communications, we need to have current information about congregational staff and lay leaders.
Please keep us apprised of changes to your staff and lay leader information. For staff, this includes salary and hours changes, new home addresses, terminations, and retirements. Keep these links handy!
See some of you in Pittsburgh! You'll find an article GA presence below.
Faithfully, |
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Jan Gartner, Compensation and Staffing Practices Manager |
Compensation and Credentialing
The updated Congregational Salary Program introduced last fall included a different way of accounting for RE Credentialing and Music Leadership Certification in compensation. We've created pages with guidance on how to compensate staff for completion of these UUA professional development programs. |
UUA Health Plan: Travel and Special Needs Benefits
Please ensure that your staff are aware of these important benefits available through the UUA Health Plan!
Travel Benefit
There are times when a UUA Health Plan participant must seek health care at some distance from their home. Our Travel Benefit (PDF) allows for reimbursement of up to $2,500 per incident and $5,000 per year for costs associated with traveling for needed care.
Special Needs Benefit (Autism Spectrum Disorders)
Some autism spectrum treatments and services are not covered by our Health Plan but are eligible for reimbursement through our Special needs Benefit (PDF). |
Empower Platform Questions and Reminders
Why Must We Enter All Employees and Track All Hours?
The most common question the Retirement Plan team is fielding is, “Do we really have to add ALL of our W2 employees 18 or over into the Empower system?”
The answer is YES! That’s because ALL W2 employees 18+ can contribute to the plan from date of hire via pre-tax salary deferrals. That is only possible if they are in the system; once added, Empower will inform them of their ability to defer salary. Additionally, you do need to track hours for every employee, even if they are unlikely to ever reach eligibility for employer contributions. The video at the button below demonstrates how to track hours when you process contributions.
Why Are We Getting Error Messages for Pre-Tax Deferrals?
Some employees have been making pre-tax deferrals (voluntary contributions) all along but have not yet entered their deferral information in the Empower platform; this may result in error messages. You can safely ignore these messages, but please do advise your employees to log in to Empower and select their deferral rate. If an employee had previously arranged for voluntary contributions by submitting a salary reduction form to you, you should continue to defer that money from their pay and remit it as an employee pre-tax contribution until or unless the employee makes a change; you will be notified of any changes made through the Empower system in your To Do list. Going forward, the salary reduction form won't be needed because employees will authorize their elective contributions directly through Empower! |
Insights from 2023 FACT Survey
Congregational leaders and staff may be interested in reading a summary of the FACT (Faith Communities Today) survey data collected from 537 of our 1,004 member congregations earlier this year. The LeaderLab page at the button below includes slides, a video, key takeaways, support resources, and questions for discussion. FACT will publish overall results (based on multiple denominations) later this year. |
Church Staff Finances at General Assembly
Most of our team will be in Pittsburgh. We look forward to seeing some of you there!
Our Physical and Virtual Booths
If you're in Pittsburgh for GA, please stop by the UUA Church Staff Finances Booth (#101, across from the main UUA area) to ask questions – or just to say hello! Note that Empower, the new UU Organizations Retirement Plan recordkeeper, is right next door to us in Booth #103.
If you are participating virtually, we also have a presence on the Whova app.
Retirement Team on the InSpirit Stage
Our Retirement Team is hosting two sessions on the InSpirit Stage in the Exhibit Hall:
- Thursday June 22, 10:30-11am ET: FAQ for UU Employers (admins, treasurers, bookkeepers)
- Friday June 23, 10:30-11am ET: FAQ for UU Retirement Plan Participants
Workshop
Compensation Team members Jan Gartner and Sean Griffin, along with Rev. Dr. Lisa Presley from the MidAmerica regional staff, have collaborated on designing and presenting "Making Your Congregation an Employer of Choice," event #634, available on demand. |
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