Staff Management
How to End an Employment Relationship

By Ken Godenenos, MBA, CCP, CHRP

Employment relationships can end anytime, and the demonstration of true Christian love is often tested best under such circumstances. Here is an area in which churches should be different.

Poor performance or behavior

Dismissal occurs for many reasons, including but not limited to performance, slowdown in the work, lack of funds, technological changes, or even a change in the employer's needs. With some very important exceptions, these reasons are usually straightforward. But it is very difficult to simply "decide one day" that an employee no longer makes the grade based on performance or even minor misdemeanors, such as poor attendance. For dismissal under the rationale of poor performance, you need to build a case less, however, on a blatant type of cause (aggressive insubordination, lying, or extremely poor judgment resulting in gross consequences, for example). Build your case on a series of progressive warnings and disciplinary actions. Establish proof that you gave the employee every opportunity to turn things around. These situations are handled best with the advice and guidance of a Human Resources specialist and, in many cases, legal assistance.

The weaker your case--or the faster you want to do things--the greater likelihood the employee is entitled to some "severance" pay. How much pay depends on a number of factors: age (i.e., an indicator of his ability to find equivalent work); the position he held; his salary or pay rate; the length of time you employed him; and whether or not the church enticed him to leave his last job. Also, if you plan to use a particular behavior as a basis, be sure this employee is in fact the worst offender.

If you plan to dismiss someone based on poor performance or behavior, you probably won't deal much with his family unless some of them also work for your church. In some cases, however, they may continue to attend your church, so consider the nature of communications, including timing and content. Also, the congregation should hear about the dismissal from you, not from an exaggerated "grapevine" version. Details are not necessary, but outcomes are.

Other types of dismissal

Death of an employee. A staff member's or colleague's death is an extremely difficult experience for employees and supervisors. Much can be said about the need to comfort colleagues, family members, the congregation and others, but I'll leave that for other writers.

However, a number of other decisions should be made before or as soon as possible after a death: will the vacancy be refilled, and if so, how? Will the actual responsibilities vary somewhat? How will you handle the extra workload until a replacement is appointed? Be extremely careful and considerate of the implications made and messages sent with any of these decisions.

Employee retirement. At the other extreme in the spectrum is the happy occasion of employee retirement. The issue of how to acknowledge that employee's dedicated service will arise. Will it be an employees-only recognition, or will the congregation be involved too? Will employees provide a gift, or will the congregation have an opportunity to make freewill offerings? And no matter who is involved, what roles will families play in the event?

When answering these questions, a church's own culture--and past practices, to a certain extent--will play significant roles. Be aware of a few things, however. First, anything you decide to do differently will set precedence in the minds of some people, be it a retirement or a resignation. For instance, imagine two staff members are leaving the church within weeks of each other. You assign two teams consisting of each one's closest associates to plan the events. One individual receives an extravagant send-off, thanks to the talents and means of his team. If the congregation perceives this send-off as the church's doing, they might very well expect the same for the other employee's departure. Again, this reflects the need for a policy or set of guidelines for recognition of employee service.

Another difficult issue is deciding where to draw the line regarding certain types of recognition. For example, does pastoral staff get one type and office or maintenance staff another? The answer depends on how your staff operates. Do they form one team, or are they divided into professional and support teams? This is tough to solve, but better to do it before complications arise.

Third, consider the employee's wishes when planning his recognition. This advice applies to resignations as well. Employees sometimes have valid reasons for wanting a very low-key or personal send-off or no recognition at all.

Fourth, consider the nature of the future relationship between the retired employee and the church staff. Will you count on him to help out in difficult times? Will he have opportunities to work part-time? Will he volunteer as a mentor? Although many people retire at 65--some even earlier--they are physically and mentally capable of working well into their senior years. In fact, they have an unbeatable amount of experience and knowledge to share with younger employees, plus incredible dependability and commitment to serving others. Organizations like Wal-Mart^™ are well aware of these strengths. The church should do no less.

Long-term disability. I remember my first managerial position of a large department. As I was introduced to the staff, we came to one cubicle with only a nameplate and a completely clear desk. I was told that this woman had cancer and was in the hospital across the street. She had been there for some time and the prognosis wasn't good. I also learned that some of my staff members were very close to her and visited almost daily with updates on office events and generally caring for her. I also took it upon myself to treat her like a regular employee, seeing to it that she received my correspondence. When I made special announcements to the staff, I took the time to go across the street and share the news with her. This employee expressed her appreciation for our efforts; so did her close associates after she died.

How we treat our own during difficult times distinguishes us as Christian employers.

Resignation. First, expect resignations to happen. As a staffing manager for a large company, my biggest difficulty was to convince line managers who were losing employees to promotions within the company that these employees were not "theirs" per se--they really "belonged" to the organization as a whole. When we lose a beloved and effective associate or other team player, we need to remember that they belong to the Christian church as a whole. As good a team manager as you are, God is better. After all, it's His team.

Perhaps more mundane, consider instituting a written policy or guideline for how much notice different types or levels of staff should give prior to leaving your employ. This avoids your being left in a tight spot when an employee gives the minimum notice required by labor regulations in your jurisdiction. Also establish guidelines for instances when vacation time is owed to the employee but not used. Overlooking this could mean he gives notice then takes his vacation for the entire notice period, leaving you in the same tight spot as if he never gave one.

Ken Godevenos has more than 27 years of experience in the HR field and has served on and/or chaired several church boards. He is an independent Human Resources and church consultant, a trained National Church Development coach, and a member of the National Advisory Council of The Leadership Center--Willow Creek Association Canada.

Question of the Month

Q: We're considering hiring a new associate pastor, but his vacation request concerns us in terms of both our existing policy and equity with other staff members. What do you suggest? We really want him to join us.

A: There's always an employee who wants more vacation, and there's always an employer who will give it to him. When this happens before someone is about to join your staff, it can create considerable concern. There are, however, several approaches you can take. First, ascertain his exact vacation entitlement from his existing employer. Does his request of your church match or exceed it? If it exceeds it, he may be factoring in the vacation entitlement from his previous employer, were he to stay there. This should have some impact on your ultimate resolution, but not necessarily if your policy prohibits it.

If your policy clearly specifies less vacation than what he is requesting, you have several options. First, you can say "no" to his request. If you do, you may wish to highlight all the other advantages of joining your church staff. Or (assuming it's true) you could point out that the amount of vacation he'll receive in the beginning only applies until his years of service grant the entitlement he's requesting.

Now you need to decide whether vacation entitlement should be employer-based or career-based. Know the implications of both approaches, decide appropriately, then stick to the policy. Establish some ground rules: Will you treat clerical staff the same as pastoral staff when it comes to vacation entitlement? Will you use the same approach for a senior pastor as you do for associates? Be aware that the majority of organizations consider vacation entitlements employer- specific, not career-specific. Doing it differently may not necessarily solve extensive request situations like this one. It also means establishing strict guidelines for what constitutes as "work" in relation to a career--how part-time years are treated versus full-time employment years, for example.

A third alternative is to let the applicant take additional time off without pay. Realize, however, that doing so might require you to extend the same privilege to other employees. This grants extra time off to those employees who can most afford it--a situation that could be deemed unfair. If you choose to offer this alternative, I recommend that you discuss it only after salary has been settled. Otherwise, an applicant might simply try to alter his salary to compensate for the extra time off without pay.

A fourth alternative is to reexamine your existing vacation provision policy. You may find yours is considerably behind the times. Do some research. Check with other churches in the area, or consult survey data provided by your denomination. If a change is warranted, apply it fairly to all existing staff.

Finally, you can grant the request, in part or in whole. If so, be careful to extend the same to your existing staff members subject to your policy's treatment of the various position categories. But remember, although extensive vacation that do not appear to add to payroll costs, they are in fact expense for "time not worked." This impacts overall productivity and creates pressures on those who are working when other staff is on vacation.

Identify your most important values. Is it more important to hire this employee or to treat your staff fairly and equitably? And what if an applicant decides not to join your ministry team for the sake of one or two weeks' vacation? Is this the kind of employee you want onboard?

Send future Questions of the Month to Ken Godevenos at kgod@accordconsulting.com. Comments or questions will be addressed directly or in upcoming Staff Management columns. All requests for confidentiality will be honored.