Pastors, Church Admin & Finance
The Disclosure of Church Staff Salaries
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Next week we are having our annual congregational meeting and according to the agenda just handed out, the council will now be the only ones who know what all the salaries for our paid staff are. The line item for Budget and Support is now only one line showing the grand totals of all the salaries combined. Is this something which we as a congregation should be concerned about? Are there any denominational guidelines about salary disclosures? If your church currently has the same policy, how has it worked out for you? Assuming this policy is implemented, are there any suggestions and/or concerns we should raise?
Thank you
Comments
Our church adopted this policy many years ago. As one of the employees of the church, it was an extremely uncomfortable matter that everyone in the church knew what my salary was. It came to a head at one congregational meeting when someone stood up and offered to do the job for a lower amount. Now only Council members, the Personnel Committee, and the Salary committee, know what each person is paid. I think most church employees are acutely aware that their salaries are paid for by member contributions, and therefore work very hard to earn both the dollar value and respect of those on whose behalf they carry out their particular roles of kingdom service. As far as I can determine there is no added benefit to congregational members knowing the individual amounts of staff salaries.
Wendy, does your church have a written policy stating that individual wages and cost of benefits will not be shared? If so, would you be willing to share a copy of the policy? Our church has had an unwritten policy for a number of years, but we now want to adopt a written policy. Thanks in advance.
My church doesn't list all the staff salaries including the pastor on the budget sheet but if someone wants a breakdown of the salaries, they are welcome to request more information from the leadership. This gives leadership an opportunity to address and educate the inquiring person on the process of review prior to setting compensation and benefits.
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