Pay Up

Does a salary freeze remain in effect at your church? If so, it may be time to revisit that strategy, even if giving levels haven’t picked up yet.

While few signs point to any significant economic growth in 2011—the former director of the Office of Management and Budget told Fortune in November that unemployment will remain high as GDP grows only 1 percent to 2 percent—other indicators suggest slight improvements in earnings for workers.

Pay levels began to rise toward the end of 2010, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting real average weekly earnings grew 2.3 percent from October 2009 to October 2010. Mercer, a global human resources consulting firm, surveyed more than 1,100 mid-sized and large employers. Nearly all of them plan to increase base pay salaries for workers in 2011, at an average of 2.9 percent. Only 2 percent of the employers surveyed plan to freeze salaries, compared to 13 percent who said the same in 2010 and 31 percent in 2009.

What does that mean for churches? High-performing pastors and staff members who have faithfully served, despite little or no pay increases in recent years, may find opportunities—limited as they may be—to go elsewhere. As a Mercer executive put it: “Employers realize that top-performing employees are loathe to going another year without an increase in pay.”

A new free tool helps church leaders determine whether pay ranges for each staff member are fair and appropriate, based on church size, demographics, and geography. The “Free Compensation Handbook Worksheets Download” (http://bit.ly/bfbvR6, third order button listed) walks leaders step by step through the process, and through data taken from nearly 5,000 churches in the 2010-2011 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff.

Does the person fall in the middle of their range or higher? That’s a good sign. Does the person fall on the low end of their range? It may be time to revisit their compensation, especially if they’re someone you can’t afford to lose.