Staff

There are seven full-time staff, including the Executive Director, and two part-time staff as follows:

Executive Director

Operations Manager/Bookkeeping

Membership Coordinator

Engineer/Technician

Youth Coordinator/Program Development

Receptionist

Playback/Technician

Production Facilitator

Web Developer/IT

Staff reports that given the current level of use of the facility by the community, they would like to add two new staff members immediately. Additionally there is a need to add staff to cover a “night shift.” The access center is open until 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 4:30 on Saturday. Most Public access center hours run until 9:00 or 10:p.m. during the week and until 8:00 p.m. on Saturdays, to accommodate working adults. Depending on the program (complexity of the set, script and camera direction) it is difficult for someone to leave work at 5 p.m. and have only two hours for production. Since evenings are the busiest time for the access center, there is greater demand on staff and great demand for space. Additional staff to cover longer hours would result in greater usage of the channel.

Possible new staff positions include:

Technical Facilitator

This would be someone who would work with producers not just in the studios but also at the editing suites.

Full time IT position

This is a position that is becoming more important to access centers as they stream video, which WCCA TV does.

Video Facilitator

This is a position that would work with producers on their video content and quality.

Maintenance Person

WCCA is a large facility and is in constant need of maintenance and repair.

When asked what prevented WCCA from adding staff, we were told that there is not enough money to budget for the long term and there was a feeling of hesitancy in adding new staff considering the City is engaged in franchise renewal. Facility space was also mentioned as a deterrent.

Worcester is twenty percent less expensive to live in than New York City and forty percent more expensive to live in than Baltimore, Maryland. A review of the salaries paid to staff, including the Executive Director, shows that given the cost of living in Worcester, the salaries are low. While salaries in the nonprofit sector typically lag behind the for-profit sector, adjustments need to be made in the salaries to make sure staff can enjoy a decent standard of living. Low pay can create turnover. And while the type of person who works in access usually does so for the benefit of the community and not the pay, the levels of salary of the staff of WCCA TV could be challenging.

Staff receives paid leave, health and dental insurance and a “Simple Roth” match of up to $100 per month. Staff also receives federal holiday leave, three sick days, three personal days and one week vacation (when first hired) that increases as time progresses. There is no “carry-over” benefit of sick or vacation days.

Many personal policies allow carry-over of sick and vacation days to a certain limit. It is particularly important that sick leave be allowed to accumulate for two reasons. When there is no carry-over of sick leave, employees are encouraged to call in sick, even when they might not be, just to ensure that the leave is used. Additionally, if an employee has an emergency illness, such as a simple surgery, it can take anywhere from one full week to six full weeks of recovery. This forces the employee to have to take a cut in pay during recovery.

It is standard for most employees to receive two full weeks of vacation in their first year with increases at various intervals thereafter. Offering only one week vacation the first year can be detrimental to finding qualified employees.

A new practice the federal government has implemented is to award “Time-Off” awards to outstanding employees. These awards can range from eight hours to twenty-four hours. Awards of time off do not incur any out of pocket expenses and encourage employees to excel because they enjoy the recognition.