The Benefits Gap: Why Your Compensation Package Isn't Competitive Anymore

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, host Todd Rhoades discusses the challenges churches face in retaining quality staff due to competitive compensation packages offered by non-church organizations. He highlights the importance of re-evaluating church staff compensation beyond just the salary and emphasizes the inclusion of comprehensive benefits to ensure staff well-being and retention.• Church staff are being tempted by non-profit organizations offering comprehensive benefits not available at the church.• Non-church organizations compete on the total benefits package, not just salary.• Traditional assumptions about ministry staff accepting lower pay are outdated; comprehensive benefits are essential.• Essential benefits include full health insurance, adequate PTO, retirement matching, professional development, and mental health support.• Churches are encouraged to reevaluate their compensation packages with help from outsiders.• Investing adequately in staff ensures that they can better serve the ministry.

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Transcript

Why Salary Is Not Enough

Rethink The Total Package

Audit Benefits Like An Outsider

How To Reach Todd Rhodes

Tomorrow: Comparison And Social Media

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Your youth pastor just got offered a job at the local nonprofit in town. Same salary as what you were paying at the church, but here's what they're getting that you're not offering. Full health insurance coverage, not 70%, full health insurance coverage, four weeks of paid time off that actually gets approved, a retirement match, real money that's going into their future, professional development budget, conferences that they can actually attend, and you're wondering why they're even tempted. Sound familiar? We're going to talk about it today, right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Hi there, my name's Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders over chemistrystaffing.com. And I'm really glad that you joined us today for this conversation about church staff compensation. It's not just about the paycheck anymore. Your competition isn't other churches. Your competition is every other organization that values really good people. And they're not just competing on salary, they're competing on the total package. And it could be that the nonprofit down the street offers mental health coverage. The school district provides sabbatical options. Even the local business down the street has better family leave policies than what you do. But here's where it even gets trickier for churches. We think that people, that good people will work for less just because it's ministry. And maybe back in the day, back in my early ministry career, that was true. Matter of fact, low pay and struggling was a kind of an honor badge of being in ministry. But we assem assume now that calling Trump's a comprehensive benefits package, and we offer health insurance and basic health insurance, a medical share plan or 50% coverage, we call it generous and we give two weeks' vacation and wonder why they seem stressed. We skip retirement contributions because God will provide. At the same time, your very best staff members are doing the math at home and they're calculating what this gap is really costing them and their family long term. Now listen, I know you care about your people. I'm not saying that you don't. You hired them because you believe in them. But caring and competing, those are two totally separate things. So what you might need to do, matter of fact, what a lot of churches need to do, and what a lot of churches that come to chemistry staffing and want us to help them search for their next staff member, we tell them the same thing. You have to rethink your total package. The total package rethink. Benefits aren't just nice to have things anymore. A lot of times they're necessities. Health insurance that actually covers their family. PTO policies that encourage rest, not just allow a little bit of rest here and there. Retirement matching that shows that you care about their future, professional development that invests in their growth. And and yeah, family leave policies that honor life's big moments and even health, mental health support. Because ministry is emotionally demand. And this isn't just about matching Google's perks. Okay? This is about basic dignity for the people that are serving your mission. Think about your last three staff departures. How many of them mentioned a better opportunity? But really, if they were honest, they would say, hey, better salary, better benefits. How many took lateral moves that just didn't make sense salary-wise? How many of them went to organizations that simply treated them better? The best ministry candidates are evaluating total compensation now, not just salaries. And if you're not competitive, you're not even in the conversation. Listen, here's your bottom line for today because things have changed a lot. The bottom line for today is you can't expect first-class ministry from people that you're treating like volunteers with your paycheck. This week, audit your benefits package like an outsider would. Matter of fact, maybe find an outsider, maybe find a business person, somebody that owns a business in your church, and show them what the church's salary benefits look like. Ask them for their feedback. List everything you offer, then compare it to a business down the street, a couple of non-church organizations and nonprofits in your area. Don't just look at what you wish you could offer. Okay, we all have our wish list. Don't just look at what you wish. Look at what you can actually provide. And then have an honest conversation with your board, with your search team, with your finance committee about maybe how you can close some of those gaps that matter the most. And here's why this is so important. Leave you today. Your people, our people, are worth investing in completely, not just spiritually. And when you can take care of them well, they can take care of the ministry well. All right, that's it for today. I hope that this has been helpful. And if there's any way that I can help you, I would love to be able to talk with you. You can reach out to me anytime. You can either email me at podcast at chemistry staffing.com, or you can head on over to my website. The URL is todd.church. There's a contact form on there. It tells a little bit more about me and some of the things that that I can offer your church as a part of chemistry staffing. Would love to be able to help you however we can. Todd.church if you'd like to reach out. All right, that's it for tomorrow, for today, actually. Tomorrow, though, we are going to be talking. Let's see, what are we talking about tomorrow? We're talking about comparison. Talking about comparison and how social media is poisoning or how it can poison our church staff culture. So we're here every day, Monday through Friday. Hope you'll join me right here again. Everybody