Costing salaries

Salaries are all those costs for hired staff in your program. The payment of salaries can be a very complex part of a literacy program. You need to consider some of the issues carefully in doing this section of the costing.

All full-time workers probably should be salaried in some manner. Here are some possible salaried positions:

• Teachers
• Supervisors
• Coordinators
• Technical personnel
• Evaluators
• PR staff
• Administrative staff

Here are some cost factors for salaries:

• Base salaries
• Social services factors such as pensions and insurance
• Severance pay
• Bonuses
• Pay raises
• Taxes which have to be paid on salaries

• A difficult part of program planning is estimating the rate of program growth in terms of personnel and salaries. It is a good idea, therefore, to budget for about ten percent more personnel than the program design seems to require. This will allow for some growth.
• If you are costing a sizable program, be sure to plan for salaries for clerical personnel and administrative assistants.
• Costs for employee social benefits and severance pay can result in high salaries costs. You may need to seek legal advice on how best to handle this.

• Determine what positions will be paid a salary.
• Establish the salary level of each of the positions to be paid.
• Determine how many people at each salary level will be getting a salary and for what period of time.
• Find out about and budget for the financial obligations associated with paying a salary such as social benefits costs, severance pay, bonuses, and taxes.
• Project pay raises and adjustments for inflation.
• Estimate the costs of distributing salaries such as banking costs, sending messengers, or converting currencies.

• Funding a literacy program
• Preparing a budget for a literacy program
• Costing a literacy program

• Task module: Costing salaries
• In task module: Determining program costs
• In task module: Costing a literacy program
• In task module: Preparing a budget for a literacy program
• In task module: Funding a literacy program, by Stephen L. Walter and Trudy K. Stewart (general editor)
• In task module: Identifying resources needed for a literacy progra..., by Stephen L. Walter
• In task module: Planning a literacy program, by Stephen L. Walter
• In modular book: Plan a literacy program, by Stephen L. Walter, Barbara K. Trudell (contributor), and Trudy K. Stewart (general editor)
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 25 October 1999

© 1999 SIL International