CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Some city employees will see a pay bump as officials continue efforts to bring wages more in line with industry standards. A 5% general wage increase for all regular city employees took effect on July 1, but that was only the first phase of the plan.
In July, city officials called the increase a “placeholder” while they awaited the results of a complete market analysis from Evergreen Solutions. That data is now available, and a plan to get city employee wages more in line with current standards is in full swing.
Pay study phases
The review was completed in multiple phases and included input from city employees over the last year.
The first item outlined in the study included bringing all employees up to at least $15/hour, but without providing any additional pay for those already at or above that mark. Because of the shift, some employees were making nearly the same if not more than their supervisor, a dynamic called “compression.”
“That was Step 1, but with Step 1 we knew it was sort of the pre-project phase. We did not make adjustments for compression, or for time, or for additional factors. We just said if you’re below that rate, we’re going to raise you up there, so that everyone gets that living wage,” said Evergreen Project Manager Mark Holcombe.
Holcombe did note that the study revealed the city was in a fairly good place versus the market, but he noted that several positions were still below the market.
Recommendations
Evergreen Solutions included in their city employee wage review some key recommendations: adopting a new pay scale, reassigning pay grades, and placing employees within those recommended pay grades.
“Some positions are going to see a large increase to their minimum and maximum of their range. Some positions are going to see a very small increase,” Holcombe said.
In the solution phase of the project, three options were presented. The first included a plan to bring all employees up to minimum standards, which essentially already happened earlier this year.
Holcombe noted it wouldn’t make much sense to do this again, and the main reason it was implemented the first time was because another fix was already in the works. He also explained that while this option is cheap and easy, it would result in further compression.
Each of the following three options looked at spacing employees out in their new ranges based on a different time metric. The three parities outlined in the proposal were class, tenure and a hybrid of the two.
Class parity only took into account the length of time an employee has spent in their current job classification or title. Holcombe said this has the issue of not accounting for time with the city. For example, if you were an employee with the city for 30 years and were promoted yesterday, you would have a class time of 0.
Tenure parity considers only time spent with the city and excludes time from classification. This process would put newly promoted employees at the top of the pay scale, which wouldn’t be fair to employees who have been in the job much longer, according to Holcombe.
Hybrid parity was favored among Evergreen analysts. This approach gives full credit for all of an employee’s time in a classification and gives 50% credit for time in a previous classification with the city. The 50% credit was designed to give employees compensation for their time with the city, in addition to giving employees room to grow and learn.
Updated pay rates were reflected in city employee paychecks this month. No employee salary saw a reduction, but some increased at varying levels. Retroactive pay as of July 2 will also be included in employees’ upcoming paychecks.
The last item in the overall plan includes revisions to job descriptions, which Evergreen is currently working out. The company said those revisions are expected to be shared with the city in the next couple of months.