UUA Office of Church Staff Finances
Guided by Unitarian Universalist values,
we equip congregations for excellence as employers
and their staff for financial competence and well-being. |
Compensation and Staffing News |
Editor's Note: Featured Resource
Dear Readers,
Your new staff deserve a proper welcome and the confidence that essential paperwork has been promptly completed. We created a Welcoming and Onboarding Checklist to help you offer a strong onboarding experience. Available in both Excel and PDF formats, it's just one of the many resources you'll find on our Hiring Staff page.
Be sure to let us know about your new employees! See the links in the first article below.
Faithfully, |
Jan Gartner, Compensation and Staffing Practices Manager |
New Leaders or Employees?
Lay leader positions often turn over in the summer, and it's a common time for staff changes, too. Please keep your leader and staff listing up to date in My UUA. The information in My UUA feeds into our database, allowing us to send communications by role. Additionally, key positions are listed in the UUA Directory.
It's also important to submit employee changes directly to our office for benefits purposes. This includes salary and hours changes, new home addresses, terminations, and retirements.
Here are the links you may need:
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New: Treasurer Support Team!
We're regularly in touch with congregational treasurers, helping with matters related to compensation, including worker classification, benefits, and ministerial tax provisions. But treasurers have additional responsibilities that fall outside of the realm of Church Staff Finances.
While our team isn't positioned to answer every question, we're invested in helping treasurers serve with confidence. Enter...the Treasurer Support Team! Many thanks to Compensation Consultants Cheri Cody and Bob Day; they have treasurer experience and enthusiastically offered to be the nucleus of this new volunteer team. Bios and contact information for team members can be found on the Compensation Consultant page at the button below.
Treasurers, we also recommend checking out the Money Matters section of LeaderLab. |
UU Retirement Plan Restatement Update
The UUA Retirement Plan Team is gearing up for a very busy fall. After receiving feedback from participating employers and participants, we worked with legal counsel to finalize the draft of the 2025 restated Plan Document. The UUA Board will review the final draft this coming week. If approved, we will begin the process of updating each employer's Employer Participation Agreement (EPA).
If your organization participates in the UU Org Retirement Plan, please look for the following communications in the coming weeks:
- We'll ask each organization to identify one main contact person to oversee the submission of a new EPA for the 2025 restatement.
- Contacts will receive an email with a step-by-step process to submit employer contact information and make elections for the new EPA to be implemented 1/1/25. New EPAs will be routed for e-signature to Presidents and Treasurers before finalization.
- Main contacts will also be asked to verify a list of all current W2 employees, who should be enrolled in the UU Org Retirement Plan, and to identify any who are no longer employed by the organization.
We are excited to bring this updated Plan to participating UU employers. Thank you in advance for your attention to these important processes. |
Reminder: All Insurance Billing Moving to ACH
As explained last month, we're asking all employers participating in UUA Insurance Plans to shift to ACH payments by September 30. Thanks to those who have already made this change! A copy of the authorization form is available at the button below. ACH payments allow for faster processing, reduced administrative costs, and enhanced security. |
Salary Program Feedback Highlights
In early June, we distributed a Salary Program Feedback Survey to staff and key lay leaders. We received 345 responses – 162 to the lay leader version of the survey and 183 to the employee version. Thanks to all who took the time to share experiences, observations, and suggestions.
Three Themes
Appreciation: Many respondents were grateful for the focus on process and values, viewing the new system as clearer and fairer.
Frustration: We heard that the program is too complicated – too much to expect of small congregations, in particular, in terms of learning and implementing. Meanwhile, some staff are disappointed that the congregational leadership isn't engaging with the information.
Budget Limitations: Regardless of the methodology we use, and no matter how well-crafted our resources, the Congregational Salary Program won't fix resource constraints.
Thoughts from Jan
Not Even Two Years In: I'm grateful for all that was shared in the surveys, including words of praise, criticism, and everything in between. After nearly 30 years under the former salary system, we haven't even been living with the new program for two years yet. We didn't expect "perfection" right out of the gate. In fact, we aren't holding ourselves to perfection at all! We'll be reviewing our materials once again this fall and expect to incorporate some of your suggestions.
Your Possible Next Moves: If the breadth and depth of our materials feels overwhelming and/or unnecessary, here are three potential process-oriented ways to move forward:
- Look over the list of Values-Based Policies and Practices in our Salary Process Guidance. Are there one or two items on which you can improve?
- Have a candid conversation with your staff about how salary decisions get made. According to the survey, many employees don't understand the decision-making process and/or don't find it transparent and reasonable.
- Contact a Compensation Consultant, who can help you apply the Salary Program materials and concepts to your congregation; their services are free of charge. And, of course, you are welcome to reach out to us one of us (Jan and Sean, aka the Comp Team: Comp@uua.org) anytime.
A Simplification: We've made one immediate change as a result of your feedback. As you know, the salary charts were accessed through a login after completing a brief form stating that you'd read our introductory information. We didn't want people landing on the numerical recommendations without getting some background on the program first. Although that's still important to us, we're aware that the login process was experienced as an annoying obstacle. So, the Recommended Salary Ranges page is now public. You can access it directly from our main Congregational Salary Program page without a login. (See the button below.)
Finances: Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if our team could fix every congregation's financial woes by providing a few fresh, user-friendly documents? Alas, we are not quite that magical. In general, staffing levels have drifted upwards in recent years, as has the percentage of the church operating budget dedicated to personnel costs. What should you do if you're having trouble aligning your staffing with your budget? See our Staffing Sustainably and Faithfully LeaderLab article for ideas about how to address this conundrum. Your regional staff and I are also available to support you. |
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The UUA Office of Church Staff Finances provides general information to
help equip and empower congregational leaders in their decision-making.
We are not legal or tax professionals and we do not track state law. Congregations are solely responsible for their legal obligations. We encourage you to consult your own legal and tax advisors for specific guidance. |
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