Personnel Committee
August 2005
Our major principle has been to do our best to balance the interests of the employees with the interests of the church. We know that these two are sometimes in conflict, so we try to remain aware of this Guideline, and maintain a constant balancing act in this regard.
Our Forms & Policies include the following:
- The Personnel Policy Manual and its revisions
- The Personnel Committee Report that accompanied the Manual when submitted to the Board.
- The Church Bylaws
- A current listing of all Staff, telephone numbers, email addresses, etc
- The Committee Mission Statement
- The Committee Covenant
- The Committee Statement on Confidentiality
- Goals for the currentyear
- The Employee Classification List
- Church timeline for Employee Evaluations & Compensation
- Any expansion of the Timeline necessary for our specific Committee
- Recommended Hiring Procedure for new staff
- Early Evaluation Form for New Employees
- Feedback Form from Member/Friend/Committee for Employee Evaluation
- Outline of Year-End Employee Evaluation Format
- A general format for the Agenda which includes certain standing items every month
The Employee Manual has been developed with the intent of applying rules, benefits, privileges etc. in a manner that applies to all employees. This is specifically intended to rule out special arrangements for specific employees. It is also intended to support the minister in resisting such pressures when they occur.
Confidentiality is maintained regarding specific employee issues to the extent possible. Minutes are kept for all meetings. However, any portion of a meeting in which any discussion of employee or other personal matters occurs will be kept confidential and will not be posted as part of our regular minutes. It is understood that there are times when other people need to be informed, such as the Committee on Ministry or the Board. And if some action is necessary it usually is impossible to maintain strict confidentiality. Good judgment is our guiding principle here.
The Personnel Committee makes efforts to keep in touch and in communication with the employees, the minister, the Committee on Ministry, relevant Committees, and others who have a significant interest in or are affected by the functioning of employees. We have attempted to have a liaison on some periodic basis with those Committees that affect our own operation. We have found that staying informed builds trust with the employees, members, and the minister, and allows us to be involved in a constructive fashion.
When conflicts occur between two employees, between an employee and a supervisor, or an employee and a Committee member or an employee and a member of the congregation, the first step after trying to deal with the issue one-on-one is to go to the supervisor, and then if necessary the supervisor’s supervisor, i.e. the minister. These guidelines are laid out specifically in the newly revised Manual. The Personnel Committee, however, believes it is wiser to get involved in these issues when the issue is still resolvable and before it reaches a crisis level. Therefore we have developed an informal mechanism for dispute resolution as well as a formal one. We have also made ourselves available to employees and members, but have typically asked them to address the issue with a supervisor first.
The Timeline for Evaluations and Compensation was originally proposed by the Personnel Committee and has now been adopted as Church Policy. We have found that one of our major responsibilities to ensure this schedule’s success is to see that the evaluations are done in a timely manner by the supervisors. As such, one of the standard and continuing items on the Agenda is the status of evaluations.
The other standing items on the Agenda are Reports & Announcements from Committee and Board liaisons, Staff Issues, and Progress on our Goals for the Year.