Workers’ Comp E-Mod Factor (part 3 of 3)

Posted on September 30, 2016 Written by

2016 05-May 31 (10)

Every year each insurance organization receives an annual report from National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). The report is usually a letter with a link to a website to get the actual report. Every WC policy is evaluated every year to determine if the number of claims was above or below the anticipated amount. The insurance company uses formulas to pre-determine what they expect each policy to have in annual claims.

 

The number of claims and the dollar amount of the claims affects the experience modification factor or E-Mod Factor.” The Mod Factor is the figure which is multiplied against the total premium to get the final premium. Mod Factors range from about 0.80 to 1.49 with the average being 1.00.

 

The report from NCCI will list the org’s most recent Mod Factor. If the Mod Factor is below 1.00 then the original premium will be discounted. If the Mod Factor is above 1.00 then there is an extra amount to be paid in the WC premium. Of course, if the Mod Factor is exactly 1.00 then there isn’t a discount or a surcharge.

 

Organizations want to have Mod Factors under 1.00 in order to get discounts. However, do not jeopardize the safety of your employees nor hurt them when there is an accident and they need WC coverage. Mod Factors are on a three-year rotation. Accidents and claims that happened four years ago are no longer reflected on the Mod Factor.

 

Bottom line: use WC appropriately, try to keep the Mod Factor low by having a safe work environment, pay the premiums each year, and always know your Mod Factor.

 

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: budget, buildings, church administration, church safety Tagged: , , ,

Workers’ Comp Codes (part 2 of 3)

Posted on September 23, 2016 Written by

2016 05-May 31 (12)

Most churches have two different types of employee classifications for WC purposes:

  • Professional staff (aka, clergy and office workers); their WC code number is 8868
  • Other staff (janitors, food service, and maintenance); their WC code is 9101

 

WC insurance assigns premium rates to each employee classification depending on the type of work on their potential injuries and severity. For instance, office staff and clergy do not engage in typically dangerous activities so their premiums are pretty low. However, kitchen staff use knives, ovens, and slicing machines; custodians use vacuum cleaners, ladders, and heavy equipment.

 

Insurance premiums are charged per $100 of income based on the employees’ actual wages as reported on the W-2. Many WC insurance companies will perform a spring time audit of W-2s and use that information to retroactively correct the prior year’s total premium. If they charged too much, they’ll send a refund and if they charged too little, they’ll send an invoice. The premium for code 8868 is in the range of 30 to 40 cents per $100 of income. The premium for 9101 is about $2.50 per $100.

 

There is a third code which affects some churches, 8869. This code covers child care workers and it has a rate of about 60 to 75 cents per $100. Working with children, especially their poop and their biting can be dangerous to employees. Remember, WC does not cover the children, only the employees.

 

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: budget, buildings, church administration Tagged: , , ,

Workers’ Comp Insurance – a primer (part 1 of 3)

Posted on September 16, 2016 Written by

2016 05-May 24 (5)

Workers’ Compensation Insurance is legally mandated for employers. In Virginia (and probably in most US states) it is required for all employers with more than two employees. That means that ultra-small employers (like mom & pop companies) do not need WC insurance but everyone else does.

 

WC insurance covers the medical expenses of employees who are injured or killed while working. It pays for most work-related injury expenses. However, I have seen work-related accidents which were determined by the insurance company to be non-work-related.

 

When a person goes to the hospital with an injury, especially the emergency room, one of the questions is, “Was this caused by a workplace accident?” This question should always be answered truthfully – never try to protect an employer from claims or insurance price increases by lying about the nature of the accident. Employers must encourage their employees to claim WC insurance especially on injuries which could cause chronic pain or prolonged recovery. Those long-term consequences can be expensive if the employer or employee pay for them.

 

WC insurance is obtained from the insurance company which handles the employer’s property & liability insurance. It is typically not expensive and it is based on several factors:

  • The work performed by the employee
  • The employee’s actual wages
  • A discount or premium charged based on prior claim history

 

After the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001 the insurance industry lobbied Congress which permitted a non-negotiable terrorism fee which is assessed on all WC policies.

 

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: budget, buildings, church administration, church finances, church safety, facilities Tagged: , , , , ,

Stock Gifts (part 2 of 3)

Posted on August 26, 2016 Written by

2016 04-April 26 (9)

When stock is donated, it must be acknowledged by the church. It can be posted on the person’s giving record so that there is permanent record of the gift. It is also an excellent practice to send the donor a separate letter with the details of the transaction. Below is a sample letter which I use regularly.

 

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith

1234 Maple Ave.

Hometown, US 12345-6789

 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith:

 

Thank you for your contribution to Grace Family Fellowship. Your gift of stock was:

 

Name of stock:……………………………………….. Apple, Inc. (AAPL)

Number of shares:………………………………….. 25 shares

Date of transfer:…………………………………….. January 3, 2018

Stock high on date of transfer:…………………………… $412.50

Stock low on date of transfer:……………………………. $409.00

Average value per share on date of transfer:………. $410.75

Total value of contribution:…………………………… $10,268.75

 

Fund contributed to:

  • 2018 Operating Ministry Budget

 

The date of transfer is the date on which the stock was transferred to Grace Family Fellowship. The IRS requires that stock gifts be valued at the average of the high and low of the stock on the date of transfer. Grace Family Fellowship sells all stock gifts immediately. The cost of the commission and fees related to the sale is netted from the value of your gift.

 

For IRS purposes, I must inform you that the gifts contained in this letter are based on intangible religious benefits. You did not receive any goods or services from Grace Family Fellowship for this contribution.

 

Thank you again for your gift. Your continued support of the ministries of Grace Family Fellowship is greatly appreciated. If I may be of further help please let me know.

 

Sincerely,

 

Church Administrator

 

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: budget, church administration, church finances, generosity Tagged: , , ,

Strategic versus Organic Org Charts

Posted on August 12, 2016 Written by

2016 05-May (3)

Staff org charts are absolutely necessary. Every organization, including churches, must have an up-to-date org chart. These charts help all staff (and non-staff) understand who supervises who, where the buck stops, which department has which personnel, and so many other questions. And, as organizations grow and change, the org chart must do the same, too.

 

Ideally, the church leadership will think about three to five years out and dream about what staff is needed to accomplish the mission and vision of the church. Then, they will put in a timeline of which staff person to hire in which order (as budget funds are available). This planning helps keep the staff and personnel committee focused on its goals and using its people resources to reach those objectives. This is called strategic planning or a strategic org chart.

 

However many orgs, especially churches, fail to do this. Instead, the leadership reacts to complaints and requests from members who want to have a staff person to take care of a specific ministry area (usually the one the member cares most about). And too often the personnel committee and/or pastor will acquiesce and make that new staff person a priority even if it has nothing to do with the church’s mission and vision. This is called an organic org chart (it is also called a disaster).

 

Org charts must be intentional and well-reasoned. Otherwise, you may end up with an org chart in which the senior pastor has 10 or 12 people reporting to him; those org charts have the appearance of being a circus tent (which may be appropriate). Make sure your org chart looks well-planned and not like it was created by the monkeys in the circus.

 

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church administration, church staff, planning, strategy Tagged: , , ,

Financial Office Contact Info

Posted on September 22, 2015 Written by

What is the email address for your Finance Office? Too many times churches use the name(s) of staff. It’s good and necessary for your Finance Office staff to have an email address for their professional needs. However, your Finance Office needs a generic email address for companies use for sending invoices or acknowledgements or other financial docs.

I recommend that every church create a fictional person which will be the point of contact for all routine Finance Office correspondence, snail or email. This “person” is:

  • First Name: Finance
  • Last Name: Office
  • Email finance@church.org (where “@church.org” is your church’s email server)
  • Address: your church’s main mail address

Creating this will ensure that whenever there is staff turnover in the Finance Office, you won’t have to change email addresses on all the various accounts the church has with vendors. This also creates a standard by which everyone in the office (and even the membership) use with vendors to get bills sent to the church. This keeps things simple – simple is good!

 

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church administration, church staff Tagged: ,

Monthly Employee Meetings

Posted on September 15, 2015 Written by

Every employee must know on a monthly basis how she or he is performing according to the supervisor. Saving all the info and “dumping” on the employee at the annual meeting is unfair to the employee, the supervisor, and the organization. Monthly meetings are a must for the health and well-being of all. These monthly conversations will also help the organization progress faster and farther.

Some managers are fearful of what to do and say in a monthly meeting. The following is a “Staff Development Conversation Guide” from North Point Ministries in Alpharetta, GA. All rights to this material belong to them. This is a tool they use to help their supervisors know how to craft these meetings. I appreciate that church sharing their resources.

Goal: Ensure that every employee has routine conversations with his/her boss allowing for a full bilateral dialog about all aspects of the job and permits discussion about the current situation and his/her personal and professional development.

Method:

  1. Every staff member should have a one-on-one meeting with his or her boss on a monthly basis. Those conversations should be designed to discuss one or more of the items mention in the goal above.
  2. The following five questions are examples that can be used to capture information, emotion, and foster conversation.
    1. What are you most excited about right now?
    2. What’s most challenging?
    3. What’s bugging you?
    4. What do you wish you could spend more time one?
    5. What can I do to help?
  3. Additionally, here are five questions/statements which can be used periodically to allow conversation around the work environment, personal growth, and the staff member’s future desires.
    1. What changes, in areas outside of your control, could be made to improve your job?
    2. Let’s identify specific growth area and develop a plan for improvement.
    3. Do you feel ready for more responsibility? If so, what type?
    4. Let’s discuss your priorities for your job for the next 6 months.
    5. What changes would you suggest to help make our team function better overall?
  4. Managers should have some written method to capturing critical elements of the conversations and actions that come from each one-on-one meeting.

 

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church administration, church staff Tagged: ,

Email Address Format

Posted on September 8, 2015 Written by

The format for email addresses for most companies is firstname.lastname@company.com

However, many churches use the firstinitiallastname@church.org format and that leads to some interesting combinations. Here are some that I’ve collected over the years:

I strongly encourage churches to use the standard format used by most companies and organizations. There are several advantages (you’ve already seen the disadvantages above!).

  • The email contains the full name of the employee which makes it easier for people new to the church to remember the staff person’s name
  • It differentiates between people with the similar names: James Smith and John Smith would have different email addresses (under the older format the church would have to come up with something to differentiate between the two and that can cause confusion to people trying to contact them if they presume they know the church’s email format).
  • Writing an announcement becomes as easy as: “Contact john.smith@church.org for info on the deacon retreat.” You don’t have to write out the contact person’s name because it’s in the email address.
  • You can still have email aliases for the other email addresses that people might use while you train them to use the new email format.

 

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church administration, church staff Tagged: ,
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