Church Leadership And Infrastructure Development

How To Create A Compensation Market Comparison Table

posted on February 20, 2013 2 Comments

How To Create A Compensation Market Comparison Table How To Create A Compensation Market Comparison TableAs I described in my series of posts on How To Develop A Compensation Program, the market comparison is the key component of any good documented compensation program. It is the tool used to evaluate recommended increases relative to the market. (Given the need to do some calculations comparing current and proposed salaries, the table should be built in a spreadsheet application, like Microsoft Excel.)

The table contains the following:

  • List of Actual Positions
  • List of Comparison Positions
  • Current Annual Salary
  • Proposed Annual Salary
  • Comparison Data
  • Percent of Market – Current
  • Percent of Market – Proposed

Positions are listed along with their current and proposed annual salary amounts. On the same row, the comparison position (from the market data) is listed along with the market data for the position. The comparison market data is usually shown in several columns, going from “Minimum to Maximum” annual compensation amounts. (Click HERE to view an example of a Market Comparison Table.)

The purpose of the table is to evaluate the current and proposed salaries relative to the market. A key piece of the comparison is a determination of which piece of comparison data will be used for the comparison. In other words, what is the church’s “strategy” relative to compensation? Does the church want to base its compensation levels on the “market average?” Above average? Below average? Several factors are taken into consideration to make this determination. For example, from what “pool of candidates” does the church normally find staff. Are they coming from inside the church or outside? If they are coming from inside the church, how does the church compare to similar positions (outside the church?) in the local market?

The idea is to try to move salaries to be equal (100% of) to the market comparison amount. Make sense?

Take a look at this EXAMPLE TABLE and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Related Posts:
How To Develop A Compensation Program
Compensation Programs: Market Comparison
The Executive Pastor Is An “HR Manager”
How To Write A Job Description

  • http://www.executivepastoronline.com/ Kevin M. Stone

    In this post my intent was only to share how to create the table, in somewhat of a “step-by-step” format. What you are pointing out has to happen on the market data side of things. It’s important (as I describe in the series of posts to which I refer) that the “standard” used gives you the ability to select church size, budget, denomination, region, etc.

    The data that goes in the table must be deemed by us to be a valid comparison. Make sense?

    I like MinistryPay.Com (NACBA) because it gives you the ability to select all of these parameters, to customize the comparison data for the particular church’s use in the table.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1494905577 Timothy Croll

    Couple of thoughts.
    The example doesn’t seem to take into account the size of the church. It may be that I misunderstood the chart, if so please let me know. The other part is the cost of living within the area. I did some research in this recently. For example a lead pastor making 75k in a rural setting is making very good money compared to those in the church averaging 50 to 75k whereas a lead pastor in a more suburban area may have a difficult time making ends meet. I know compensation is not all a pastor should be concerned about but the question is how to balance a lower pay structure and trust thatGod will makeup the rest. I would really like to see this covered a little more in depth specific when comparing surrounding economics.