Exploring the State of Church Staff Health: Todd Rhoades & Matt Steen on Findings and Insights from New National Study

Thanks for tuning in to the unSeminary podcast! Today is part 2 of a conversation that we started back in April with Todd Rhoades and Matt Steen, the co-founders of Chemistry Staffing. If you’re curious about the state of church staff health in the US, you won’t want to miss this episode as we dive into the findings of the 2023 Church Staff Health Assessment. Survey topics. // The Church Staff Health Assessment gathered data from 1,063 part- and full-time staff members at churches all across the United States. The sample size included all different church sizes, denominations, people from different positions and age ranges, and the study asked 50 different questions around seven major church staff health categories, including: communication, job satisfaction, leadership, team dynamics, compensation/benefits, work environment, and future stability. Communication is key. // The study revealed that while 60% of people surveyed feel communication is great, 40% of staff members feel that their leadership needs to improve communication with them. Regular and transparent communication is essential to ensure that staff members feel valued and heard. Address issues by communicating information repeatedly and consistently through multiple channels. Also, provide staff with a way to give feedback to the leadership. Job satisfaction. // 80% of staff members feel like they are making a difference in their current role. However, the study found that does not necessarily translate to overall job satisfaction. Over a third of those surveyed are either unhappy or neutral about their overall job satisfaction. These results may reveal some toxicity in the church culture that needs to be addressed. A church might be great to attend, but not so great to work at. Compensation and benefits. // While 58% of church staff members are satisfied with their current salary and benefits, there is a discrepancy between the satisfaction levels of executive pastors and senior pastors when compared with other staff members. In addition, 59% of church staff say that the annual evaluation process along with the strategy for compensation analysis is broken. And when executive pastors and senior pastors are removed from the equation, the number goes up even more. Although it’s challenging to have conversations around your staff members’ job performance, it’s critical that people get clarity on how they are doing in their roles. Future stability. // 60% of church staff members say that they’re optimistic about their future at their church. Yet over half of staff members surveyed have seriously considered leaving their current church role in the past year, and 56% are open to other opportunities. Todd suggests that this signals a chance for leadership to build partnerships with the staff and understand why there is this openness to leaving. The bottom line is healthy staff members create healthy churches. And healthy churches minimize the transition of staff members. You can download a FREE 45-page PDF of the 2023 Church Staff Health Assessment results when you visit chemistrystaffing.com/staff-health. Plus, if you are interested in surveying the staff at your church, Matt and Todd can help provide you with a customized survey. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today,