The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Beyond Work: Ensuring Staff Have Sufficient Paid Time Off
Unlock the secret to a more productive and fulfilled church staff with our latest Healthy Church Staff Podcast episode, where we delve into the surprisingly overlooked element of work-life balance: paid time off (PTO). As Todd Rhodes, a co-founder of chemistrystaffing.com, I highlight the eye-opening data from our Healthy Church Staff Assessment and address the concerns of the 28% who aren't quite satisfied with their vacation benefits. Our rich discussion doesn't just skim the surface; we reveal five game-changing strategies that promise to revolutionize how your church approaches PTO, with the goal of nurturing staff well-being and setting a sterling example within your community.
This episode isn't just a treasure trove of insights; it's a call to action for church leaders to foster a culture where vacation isn't a luxury—it's a necessity. We make a case for the 'use it or lose it' approach and discuss the importance of clear communication on taking full advantage of PTO without the guilt. Whether you're drafting the policy or packing your bags for a well-deserved break, this conversation is tailored to embolden and equip you for creating an environment that values rest as much as hard work. Tune in for an engaging listen that could very well lead to a happier, more energized church staff.
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Hi there and welcome to this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. I'm your host, todd Rhodes, also one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom, and today we're discussing a critical aspect of work-life balance. That's right. Everybody Paid time off Exciting right, but no seriously. It is an important part of your compensation package that you offer for your staff and if you're a staff member, vacation time's important. So last year, when we took our Healthy Church Staff Assessment, we asked the question are you satisfied with your current benefits compensation levels? And one of the specific questions we asked is are you satisfied with your current benefits compensation levels? And one of the specific questions we asked is are you satisfied with your paid time off, the amount of time that you get off every year? And 72% of people said yes, that they were either agreed or strongly agreed with that, and while it's certainly good news, we can't ignore the 28% who are either dissatisfied or neutral. So today we're going to explore some, maybe some innovative strategies for ensuring that your paid time off policies meet the needs of your staff. So if you're listening as a leader that is over staff and has some input into paid time off and policies around those PTO, then this podcast for you, and if you are a staff member that's just thinking about, am I happy with my current vacation schedule? This podcast, hopefully, will be an interesting listen for you as well. But before we dive into those strategies, let's take just a moment to understand why paid time off is so important Taking time away from your church job to rest and recharge, to attend to personal matters. It's really crucial for maintaining both mental and physical health, preventing burnout and even for fostering creativity and productivity. And as church leaders, we have a real responsibility, if you're in charge of staff, to model and encourage healthy work-life balance. By providing generous and flexible pay time off policies, you're not only supporting your staff's well-being, but you're also setting a positive example for people in the church as well. So let's take a look at some hopefully innovative strategies five different strategies I'd like to share with you today on how we can ensure that our pay time off policies are meeting the needs of our staff.
Speaker 1:Let's start with strategy number one. Okay, here we go Implement, and some of these are going to be yeah, this works in our setting. Sometimes your setting might be different and you might think that's a horrible idea, todd. That's fine, but just some ideas right. One way is you can implement a use it or lose it policy when it comes to PTO, and by that here's what I mean. Encourage your staff to use your paid time off, their paid time off, by having a strategy that unused days don't carry over from this year to next year. Now this might seem harsh, but here's the reasoning behind it. Maybe you can come up with a different policy that allows for some carryover but also encourages staff to use their paid time off.
Speaker 1:The reason behind this strategy is that it sends a clear message that taking time off, first of all, it's allowed. Right, you're not going to be penalized for taking time off, but it's actually expected. We expect you every year to take at least this many days off. Okay, I've heard of churches where I've heard from people that we talk to that work at a church staff that they'll say, todd, even though I've got two weeks of paid vacation when I take vacation, it's almost looked at as I'm being not loyal to the church because I want to take the paid time off that they're giving me message with your whatever your policy is on paid time off and vacation time, that, first of all, it's we really do think that it's valuable that you take it and we expect you to take it, and there will be no penalties for you taking all of your all of your benefit in this area. Okay, so first is, just have a policy that that will encourage people to take it, and one of the ways to do that is just to put it on an annual basis and say, hey, you've got two weeks, you've got three weeks, whatever it is, but we don't want you to wait for four years and all of a sudden you've got 16 weeks of vacation accrual. So that's never good. Okay. So that's the first policy, or first strategy. Second strategy, and here's we've been talking about benefits and compensation all week. Here's another way that you can add some benefits without costing the church real physical dollars out the door.
Speaker 1:And it's the second strategy of maybe consider offering mental health days In addition to traditional vacation and sick days. Consider, just consider offering a few mental health days each year, okay, and you don't have to call them mental health days, you can call them whatever you want to. You can call them self-care days, you can call them stress management days, you can call them break days, you can call them personal days, whatever you want to call them Maybe? I know some churches that offer these. They don't call them mental health days. I forget what the church I'm thinking of, what they call them.
Speaker 1:I think it's just more of a self-care day where they say, hey, we don't care what you do on this day, we just want you to take a day and go do something that refreshes your soul. We don't want you to do anything church-related, we don't want to see you in the office, we don't want you to lay around and watch Jerry Springer all day. We want you to take advantage of it, be deliberate about it, but take a day to do something that's going to refresh you and really provide some self-care for you. Maybe one day a quarter, maybe one day every couple months, but offer that and hold people to it. Hey, we expect you to do this. If you're not doing this, this is something we're going to make mandatory that we want you to take this day and just take a break and go do something that really refreshes your soul. Okay, so that's the second strategy.
Speaker 1:The third strategy maybe consider providing volunteer days. Maybe encourage staff to give back to the community by offering a few paid days each year for volunteering maybe a day a quarter for volunteering. It not only supports staff's personal values, the things that are near and dear to their heart, but it also strengthens your family's ties to the community. Hey, maybe the fifth Thursday of every fifth Thursday or something, it's a volunteer day, maybe not for your whole staff, but every staff can pick their own day and go do something. Again, it breaks up the routine but also builds into the community and gives them kind of a respite from the stress of their daily job. So that's number three.
Speaker 1:Number four consider, maybe, family days. Recognize the importance, excuse me, of some family time by offering a few days, a few paid days each year, maybe once a quarter, for family-related activities maybe, such as attending a child's school event, volunteering for a field trip, maybe caring for an ill family member, maybe it's just a personal day and these are different than sick days, right, these are days where you actually say, hey, we recognize the importance of your family and the health of your family and we want to help foster just a healthy family dynamic for your family. So that's a possibility of offering family days as well. And then here's another idea, last idea for you, and be creative, come up with some different things, just some ideas that again don't cost a lot of money out the door but they're going to really help your staff feel valued and contribute to their physical and emotional and spiritual well-being. The fifth idea is maybe think about creating a time off fund, maybe set aside a portion of budget to help staff cover some expenses related to taking off, such as travel costs, maybe child care, and this can remove some of the financial barriers that prevent some staff from fully utilizing their paid time off. Again, just an out-of-the-box idea that could be a way that for this one would cost you, this one would cost you a little bit of money for each staff member, but, oh my goodness, the return on that investment and the well-being and just the feeling of the staff member feeling valued and help them feel that this whole paid time off, getting time away from the office or from their ministry responsibilities this could really make a huge difference. So, as church leaders, it's not enough to simply have a generous paid time off policy you get a week or two weeks or three weeks or four weeks but also need to lead by example. So make sure that you're taking, if you're in charge of your staff, make sure that you're taking your own time off, make sure that you're healthy in this area, make sure that you're encouraging others to do the same, and share stories about how taking off has benefited you both personally and professionally. I will leave you with this challenge, okay.
Speaker 1:Today I want you to think about this and take a fresh look. If you're in charge of current paid time off strategies and policies at your church, take a fresh look. Take a couple hours, put it on your calendar and take a look at your policies. How are your staff doing? How are they feeling? Do you feel like you're meeting the needs of your staff in this area, and are there ways where you could be either innovative or flexible?
Speaker 1:Maybe look at those five suggestions that I gave you. Maybe come up with some others. Are there ways that you can do better by just continually and by continually once a year, once every couple of years assessing and improving some of your policies and the ways that you're investing in the long-term health and success of your staff and church? Just by doing that occasionally, you're going to come up with some. I think probably, if you do it right, some low cost, high ways that you can invest in your staff and it will really make a difference in how your staff feels about your church, and not just in their pay, time off and their benefit levels, but also in their overall compensation, even if you're not paying them more money. Just the added flexibility can make a real difference. So that's my challenge for you Take a look at those current PTO policies and see if there's a way that you can do it.
Speaker 1:Now some churches you want to really outside the box, and I'll leave you with this really outside the box thinking. Some churches are going to kind of an open PTO strategy or policy where you don't get a week or two weeks or four weeks. You get as much paid time off as you want. And this boy, you've got to have a great culture and a strong leadership to be able to put something like this in place. But I'm seeing churches start to do this where, hey, lead your ministry, lead.
Speaker 1:If you need time off, take it as long as the work gets done and it's not excessive, which that could be the rub there. Some people might think 18 weeks off is not excessive, and it probably is. But just think outside the box and think of ways that there are ways that you can come alongside staff and support them even in the PTO strategy that you have. All right, that's what I've got to say today about paid time off strategy. Hey, if you have not taken this year's Healthy Church Staff Assessment, I would encourage you to do. Just head over to churchstaffassessmentcom and take it today. It's absolutely free. It would take you about 10 or 15 minutes, but it would really help us as we continue to do our research on what makes a church staff healthy. Thanks so much for listening. Hope you join us back here again tomorrow for the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
