We recommend for professional organists and their churches a tidy, systematic and just salary solution that eliminates the need for future negotiating and maintains a transparent and demonstrable connection between the given duties of the organist and the size of his or her stipend.
- Take as a starting point the local diocesan salary rate for a full-time (lay) officer. In the example below (from a specific diocese in the UK), the rate is £24,659 p.a.
- Agree the overall average number of hours a week (taking the whole year into account) that is required to carry out the post. Remember to include:
- Actual time of all regular services
- Getting out music at home, half hour in church before each service, tidying up after service
- Actual time of all seasonal services (Christmas, Easter, other festivals / saints' days etc)
- Getting out music at home, half hour in church before each service, tidying up after service
- Actual time of all school or institutional services
- Getting out music at home, half hour in church or elsewhere* before each service, tidying up after service
- Practicing time for hymns, voluntaries and (if appropriate) anthem accompaniment
- Actual time of all choir practices
- Getting out music at home, quarter hour in church before each practice, tidying up after practice
- Concerts: Plan, coordinate, attend, play or accompany where appropriate, learn repertoire for any concerts you are playing and other possible accompanying
- Meetings with minister (e.g. regular hymn-choosing or other staff meetings)
- Study time: any courses attended or other church music studies including reading journals etc.
*Travel time from home is not covered by the church, except in the case of travel to schools or other institutions
- Having arrived at an annual weekly average time, work this out as a percentage of a "full-time" post (reckoned to be 40 hours a week)
- Agree an annual salary as per the following example (based on full-time salary of £24,659 p.a.):
| Hours per week | Percentage of 40 hours | Annual salary £ | |
1 | 2.5% | 616.47 | |
2 | 5% | 1232.95 | |
3 | 7.5% | 1849.42 | |
4 | 10% | 2466 | |
5 | 12.5% | 3232.37 | |
6 | 15% | 3698.85 | |
7 | 17.5% | 4525.32 | |
8 | 20% | 4932 | |
9 | 22.5% | 5548.25 | |
10 | 25% | 6165 | |
11 | 27.5% | 6781.22 | |
12 | 30% | 7397.70 | |
13 | 32.5% | 8014.17 | |
14 | 35% | 9050.65 | |
15 | 37.5% | 9697.12 | |
16 | 40% | 9864 | |
17 | 42.5% | 10480.17 | |
18 | 45% | 11096.55 | |
19 | 47.5% | 11713.02 | |
20 | 50% | 12329 |
- Review the time-use regularly once each year, so that the musical director and the church are both satisfied that the salary reflects the actual demands of the post
- Remember that the actual annual salary figure is linked to the diocesan rate, so this will automatically be reviewed each year.
Download a printable copy of this leaflet, as MS Word document or Acrobat (pdf) document.
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