Church Staff Employees Or Family

If you have read my blog for some time now you might know that I have a passion for wanting to create a church working environment that is more like a family than it is job.

Brand Autopsy had a great post called "Treat Employees Like Family". Here is a short excerpt:

Steve Bigari understood exactly what his mentor was saying:

TAKE CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE.

So instead of reducing employee benefits to curb costs, Bigari increased the benefits he offered to employees. He added services such as day care, transportation to/from work, and small loans to the mix of employee benefits. Bigari made the business case for adding such expensive benefits believing it would not only reduce employee turnover, but also keep employees more focused on daily customers at work than on their daily problems at home...

...Treating front-line employees as family not only changed the lives of his employees, it also changed his life. In June of 2006, Bigari sold his McDonald’s franchises and based off his experience treating employees like family, he created and now runs a non-profit group called America’s Family to offer similar services to low-wage employees at other companies.

Treating staff as though they were family vs. employees could go a very long way to staff retention as well, especially in the 21st century. When staff feels more ownership, as say a family member does, it will create the buy-in that so many pastors are wanting.

Buy-in is an important facet of building long-term for growth. And having a family model of ministry is a way to ensure a loyalty that brings that buy-in and growth.

A couple of other posts from me that talk about the church environment that I think should be created are:

A Collaboration of Great Minds or Be A Little Maverick

Google Is Top Employer