Q: What are LERN’s recommendations in relation to the efficiencies and output relative to a program planner? I think for a medium size market with an MSA of 290,000 and 80, 000 in the city but a traditional conservative mindset that managing 100 programs and 40-50 instructors is about maximum for a program planner position?? We need to double the number of classes to give us ROI anywhere near LERN’s recommended numbers but I am trying to justify a pert time position to accomplish this. Appreciate the input.
A: LERN looks at the issue of program planner responsibilities a little differently. The role of the program planner is to generate income, and the LERN benchmark is that each programmer should generate 5 times the average staff salary, or put another way, every dollar spent on staff salaries should generate five dollars in income. Not everyone is an income generator, but a program manager is. Therefore, the program planner must generate both his or her salary, plus that of staff, such as your administrative personnel, who do not generate income, but whose work is critically important to your operation. Using the information below, you can calculate how much income your program professionals should be generating in order to meet the LERN benchmarks for performance and how many staff you can afford.
When thinking about the cost of staffing, there are two
key points to review.
1. What percentage of your budgeted income should be
allocated to staff salaries?
Successful lifelong learning programs budget administrative
costs at 35 percent. That means that all the expenses
incurred to operate the program on a day-to-day basis —
staff costs, supplies, equipment for staff, etc. — totals 35
percent of income. A program with a $1,000,000 budget
would spend $350,000 on administrative costs.
Of the $350,000, $200,000 or 20 percent would be allocated
to staff salaries. It should be noted that staff salaries
does not include benefits. The benefits would be included
in the rest of the administrative costs.
So for every dollar spent on staffing you need five dollars
in income.
How do I decide how many people I should have on staff?
If for every dollar spent on staffing you need five dollars
in income, to find out the number of staff you would
need to first figure out the average staff salary. All staff
should be included. You would add all salaries and divide
by the number of full-time staff (two half-time staff equal
one full-time position).
If your average staff salary is $25,000, you would then
multiply the $25,000 by 5 because for every dollar spent on
staffing you need five dollars of income; $25,000 now becomes
$125,000, or the amount of income you need to support
an average staff position. Next you would divide the
$1,000,000 budget by $125,000 and you would get 8.
If your average staff salary is $40,000, then income required
to support the average position is $200,000 and the number
of staff a $1,000,000 budget could support would be 5.
It should be noted that if your staffing costs are presently
at 25 percent and not 20 percent, you would multiply
the average staff salary by 4 instead of 5. In the $25,000
example, you would need $100,000 to support an average
staff position and you could have 10 people on staff, while
at $40,000 you would need $160,000 and could have 6.
Following the $1,000,000 budget and $25,000 staff salary
average, you now know you can have 8 people on staff
and you can afford $200,000 for staffing costs.