U.S. Employee Benefits

Benefits and Compensation

To attract and retain good people, it is important to provide fair compensation and benefits packages. Our benefits package allows us to hire and retain good employees in a way that our salary system alone cannot.

Portico Benefit Services manages five benefit plans for the churchwide organization:

The Retirement Plan
Vested on the first day of employment; the ELCA churchwide organization contributes an amount based on 10 percent of the employee's annual salary. Employees may also make voluntary pre-tax contributions.

Health and Wellness
This includes medical, dental, mental health and prescription benefits. An Employee Assistance Program (confidential counseling) and a Flexible Spending Account are also available. Premiums for the health plan are paid by the ELCA churchwide organization for the employee and eligible dependents.

Flexible Spending
The ELCA Flexible Spending Account allows you to set aside pretax dollars to use for eligible health care and dependent care expenses.

Disability Plan
This benefit allows qualified employees to continue to receive a partial salary and health benefits in cases of long-term disability (more than 60 days).

Survivor Benefits Plan
Provides a lump-sum survivor benefit ranging from $6,000 to $50,000.
In addition to the benefits provided by Portico Benefit Services, the churchwide organization provides the following benefits to its employees:

• Paid vacation (two weeks for new employees; three weeks after two years; four weeks after five years)
• Sick leave (one day per month up to 45 days)
• Personal days (three per year)
• Ten paid holidays
• Four weeks of paid maternity/paternity/adoptive leave
• Compassionate leave
• Housing allowance for clergy
• Relocation (where applicable)
• Workplace lactation room
• Free notary public services
• Flexible summer hours
• Electronic deposit of paychecks
• Personal mail services
• Training and development opportunities sponsored by Human Resources
• Service recognition (in increments of five years)
• Free parking and convenient access to public transportation
• Free long-term parking and shuttle to O'Hare Airport
• Optional voluntary salary reduction contributions to 403 (b) plan
• Accidental insurance coverage for employee and dependents (employee paid)
• Transit benefits (for Chicago-based staff)

Finally, there are intangibles which are important benefits, including weekly chapel services, numerous educational opportunities with guest speakers and brown-bag discussions, and flexible scheduling where work-flow permits.