Strategic Value

If a custodian has been employed by a church for twenty years, and if he or she has been given yearly cost-of-living increases, his or her salary could be a good percent of the personnel budget (especially, if the church is small).  Bring in a new pastor with a fresh seminary degree and it’s conceivable that the new pastor’s salary is pretty close to the “tenured” custodian.   Someone could argue, with reasonableness, that the custodian’s strategic value to the organization is high.  Who else is going to turn on the furnace on cold mornings and chilled parishioners are no good, right?  But when we talk about the weightiness of decisions for the organization’s rise or fall, the issues of confidentiality, the interface with the public, the connection with the key mission of the organization, the number of dollars managed, … we can get a sense of how important a position is to an organization, apart from who is in the position or how long the post has been filled.  The higher the importance, the more pay there should be.  The lower, the less.  Have you weighted the positions in your organization by the seriousness and strategic value?