Five ways to decide how much to pay your staff

April brings Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs, pay negotiations, new accounting periods and fresh funding bids. And for me on the SCVO Information Service, it also means a chance for an ABBA reference and a sharp increase in questions on salary scales! Many organisations have called to ask if agreement on the Scottish Joint Council (SJC) salary scales has been reached for April 2017 onwards. The news is that the scales are still being negotiated. You can keep track of progress on the Unison website. The scales are used by a lot of charities in deciding what to pay their staff, so many people are keen to know what's happening. SCVO does not play any part in the negotiations. However, what we can do is offer our members access to the scales via the COSLA website, as well as a look at Employee Handbooks and Employers’ Guidance notes. Want to know more? See the benefits of becoming a SCVO member. Another frequently asked question is ‘what should we pay our staff?’ That’s a hard one. While we can’t offer specific advice, here’s a few pointers to get you started:

1. Factor in the size and structure of your organisation, where you’re based and the local job market conditions.
2. Consider the level of autonomy and responsibility of the post, along with key factors such as knowledge and experience required, the scope for decision taking, financial and staffing responsibilities, etc.
3. It all comes down to affordability, and you have to always act in the best interests of your organisation and its beneficiaries. But you must also balance that with the duty of the third sector to pay and promote the living wage.
4. Some jobs, such as those in IT and finance, may have to be pegged at a level comparable with equivalent posts in the private sector in order to attract good candidates. But it’s worth emphasising that it’s not just about the money – other factors such as flexible working and greater autonomy are just as important for many people.
5. Once you’ve taken all these issues into consideration, have a look at recruitment adverts on our specialist charity jobs site Goodmoves. You'll get a sense of what the sector is paying for similar roles, and you can download application packs to compare job descriptions and person specifications.

That’s a lot to think about. But there’s another two important employment developments that you need to consider this month. The National Minimum Wage increased on 1 April 2017, and if you’ve got more than 250 employees you now need to comply with new reporting obligations about gender pay gaps.