HomeMy WebLinkAboutFIN 2018-07-05 Item 2C - Policy - Compensation Policy for City EmployeesCity of Tukwila
Allan Ekberg, Mayor
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Finance Committee
FROM: Stephanie Brown, Human Resources Director
CC: Mayor Allan Ekberg
DATE: June 27, 2018
SUBJECT: Review of Compensation Policy Resolution No. 1796
Note: Because this topic is building on previous Committee meetings, the original memo has
been updated in underline font below. This intent is to continue to preserve the information from
one meeting to the next given that each discussion will build upon the previous.
ISSUE
The City Council and Administration have committed to review and discuss Resolution No. 1796, which
sets policy for compensation and benefits for City employees.
BACKGROUND
Beginning in the 1980's, the City Council adopted various resolutions regarding compensation policy.
These resolutions focused on several common themes including:
1) An overarching goal to maintain a competitive position in the market place;
2) The desire to select and to retain a competent and productive work force;
3) The compensation system should reflect average compensation among the various employment
markets in which the City competes for qualified labor;
4) Provides that classifications shall be based upon the Decision Band Method (DBM), for the
represented and non -represented employees;
5) A comparative analysis for all positions shall be determined based upon internal and external
factors;
6) A mix of wages and benefits shall be provided based on the average or above average of the
defined market.
These resolutions have since been updated and replaced over time, with many of these provisions carrying
forward over the years.
In 2013, Resolution No, 1796, was adopted which sets core value statements, specifically that the City
desires to utilize standardized policies, procedures and processes whenever possible for compensating all
employee groups, both non -represented and represented.
From the Human Resources perspective, since the adoption of this policy in 2013, it has been effectively
used as a guide and serves to establish criteria for use when conducting analysis for salary and benefits. In
the Collective Bargaining process, it has been objective; manageable, fair, representative of the market to
which you chose to compare; used in good faith under our bargaining statue RCW 41.56; reduces the
comparisons to those groups that are represented; sets parameters for pay and benefit considerations; it
guides the pre -collective bargaining process as to what the City expects to receive for consideration in
preparation for labor negotiations.
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INFORMATIONAL MEMO
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As it relates to the classification of new positions and the reclassification of existing positions, it provides
the external market criteria based upon assessed valuation +/- 50% that we have been able to benchmark
our positions to fairly consistently; provides consideration for internal comparability; identifies the data
collection resources to use when conducting external market analysis; sets parameters for when a market
study will be conducted and when a cost of living adjustment will be considered.
The challenges we have experienced have generally been when we have positions that we are not able to
find benchmark comparators for based upon the duties of the position (standard for a valid match is 5
positions). In addition, recently when the market for a certain position was highly competitive, we were
not able to attract qualified applicants.
During these times we look for creative, innovative and strategic ways to attract qualified applicants such
as offering hiring bonuses. This has also been an effective recruitment strategy with our Civil Service
positions.
Given that some areas of Resolution No. 1796 are silent, addressing those silent areas would provide
more clarity and an objective methodology to use for anomalies that may occur. Administration proposes
consideration of the following for discussion with the Council. This list is not all inclusive as there could
be other items the Council wants to consider.
L Above and Below Market adjustments - specifically define what compensation standard would be used
to set parameters for adjustment of wages when positions are above or below market.
2. Compression — establish a definition within the resolution that defines what it means, and what
methodology will be used to address compression when it occurs.
3. Comparability — review the current methodology specifically as it applies to the external market for
non -represented positions.
4. Recruitment — review what barriers exist when it is a highly competitive external market, and ways to
attract and retain future employees.
Follow Up from the March 20, Finance Committee Meeting
At the March 20, Finance Committee meeting, Committee members requested the following components
be included in the analysis and review
• An updated market study;
• Input and recommendations from the non -represented employee groups;
• Background and evaluation of decision band methodology;
• Analysis on gender neutrality, desk audits, and appeal process, performance reviews and
Merit pay;
• Understanding of compression and when it has been an issue.
In addition, the Council committee requested that Administration provide a revised timeline for review
and adoption of changes to Resolution No. 1796 by the full City Council: The schedule below meets the
Council requests for a compensation workshop for the Council and for a deadline of September.
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INFORMATIONAL MEMO
Page 3
May 22 -
June (TBD)
July 3
July 17 -
August 7 -
August 21 -
September 4 -
September 10 -
September 17 -
Review the revised timeline with the Committee and address any additional
considerations to Resolution 1796;
Conduct a compensation workshop for the City Council
Committee discussion:
review Compensation workshop and next steps
review non -represented employee input
Review and discuss 2017 data of the external market study
Finalize scope of policy review of Resolution1796
Review and discuss updated 2018 data for the external market study
(Note AWC 2018 Data results are published end of July)
Review and discuss committee considerations
Review and discuss committee considerations (if necessary)
Finalize recommendations for City Council consideration
Bring recommendations to the City Council for review and discussion;
Adoption of changes to Resolution No. 1796 for implementation
NEW: Update from Compensation Work Session- 6/19/18
A work session was held with the City Council on June 19. Mr. Bruce Lawson, Compensation
Consultant from Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc provided a presentation on Methods of Job Evaluation
Alternatives, How to Determine Salaries. The purpose of this work session was to provide background
on compensation philosophies to new Council members and to receive feedback from the full Council to
inform the Finance Committee's ongoing review of the City's compensation policy as established by
Resolution No. 1796.
The presentation covered the follow objectives:
• The history of job evaluation
• The role of job evaluation
• Selecting a job evaluation tool
• Alternative job evaluation approaches
o Whole Job Ranking
o Market Pricing
o Point Factor
o Factor Comparison
o Decision Band
• Market Premiums
• Pay Compression
• Market Competitiveness
The consultant reviewed with the City Council the process used to evaluate iobs under whole job ranking,
market pricing, point factor, factor comparison, and the Decision Band Method the current system used
by the City. Job Evaluation under the Decision Band Method is based upon six broad band decisions. Mr.
Lawson explained that the advantage of this type of evaluation method is to determine job content, and to
create a hierarchy of jobs for internal equity, and of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
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In addition, Mr. Lawson addressed the issue of pay compression, when it occurs, and that compression
cannot be totally mitigated. He added that pay compression can be managed by the ratio percentage
allocated in the pay structure. He concluded the presentation with discussion on when a market premium
is appropriate to implement, specifically when you want to attract and retain jobs that are competitive in
the labor market. Given the current construction climate occurring in this region and that it is hard to
attract positions such as Building and Construction Inspectors, he suggested it may be a good option.
Mr. Lawson reviewed with the Council the definitions of market competitiveness and that is occurs when
your external market data reflects when your pay is highly competitive, possibly misaligned; or
significantly misaligned reauiring review to determine if the job evaluation is appropriate.
Councilmember Quinn lead the discussion of the review and discussion of Resolution No. 1796
requesting input from the City Council. Council members have reauested that the Finance Committee
consider and discuss COLA and market adiustments: compression; positions above and below market,
and new incentives.
At the Finance Committee meeting on July 5. the committee will review non -represented employee input.
the external market study data for 2017, and next steps for further review of Resolution No. y1796.
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Tukwila Job Title
DBM Band/Grade
City P&R
Administrator PW Director Police Chief Director
F102 E91 E91 E83
A/V Cities 2017 Monthly Wage Top Step
Burien
13750
12971
12971
Des Moines
14280
11162
12556
11610
Edmonds
13267
13843
12556
Issaquah
16070
14574
14574
13882
Lake Stevens
13046
11296
12336
Lynnwood
14636
14842
14636
Marysville
16052
13878
13878
13364
Maple Valley
13149
11722
11722
Puyallup
13411
12150
13411
11007
SeaTac
14044
12731
12731
Shoreline
15819
13095
13095
Tukwila 2017 Monthly Wage
Average of Top Wage Step (excudes
Tukwla)
Dollar Difference
Percentage Difference
12866
14402 12862 13634 12757
-283 4 -768 -326
-1.97%
0.03% -5.63% -2.56%
In determining the level of competiveness against the market:
+/-5% is Highly Competitive
+/-10% is competitive
+/-15% is a Possible Misalignment with the Market
=/-20% is a Significant Misalignment with the Market
Blank cell = no match in position with that City or no data available
Cities chosen based on +/-50% of Tukwila's Assessed Valuation utilizing 2017 Washington State Department of RevE
35
2017
Deputy Public
Works
Human
Deputy Director/City Deputy Finance Building Resources Deputy City Administrative
Police Chief Engineer Director Official Analyst Clerk Assistant
E82 D72 D63 D61 C42 B23 B23
12081
11288
12308 11440 10241 9614 7134 6180 5487
-227 -152 80 182 1117 234 560
-1.85% -1.33%
0.78% 1.89% 15.66% 3.78% 10.20%
?nue data Table 30
36
10911
9409
5203
12075
10650
9105
6204
5517
11958
10330
9838
6991
5462
5806
10878
7728
7075
5238
11075
8330
5894
5174
13208
13187
11880
10800
6708
5361
12150
10495
9067
7269
5980
6595
5825
12150
11564
9491
9034
6394
6086
5513
11252
9010
9945
7964
6699
5777
9737
7421
6399
5797
12081
11288
12308 11440 10241 9614 7134 6180 5487
-227 -152 80 182 1117 234 560
-1.85% -1.33%
0.78% 1.89% 15.66% 3.78% 10.20%
?nue data Table 30
36
Regression Results: All Data Included
City mfTukwiYya
2017 Market Data Regression Results
$16,000
$14,000 —~^w,
� m^ ,,~~
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$12.000
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'$1U.0O0
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un ~'
7-0
$8,000 ^,'
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' / ww
Gallagher
y = 1.1555x + 2977.2
R2 = 0.9859
$4,000
$2,000
B23 C42 D61 D63 D72 E82 E83 E91 F10
DBMO Rating
37
Summary of Findings
Gallagher
Insurance I Risk Management I C.ortsu@krg
Overall regression results, regardless of what data was excluded or
included based on the previous slides, resulted in an R2 > 0.98
— The results indicate that the data variability is low and therefore utilizing the
resulting formula to create the pay structure would result in a valid and reliable
structure that is aligned with the market.
Once the proposed structure is developed utilizing the resulting formula,
any variance of +/-15% from the market data would warrant further review
to determine if a market premium is appropriate
- The variance may be acceptable for a variety of reasons:
Internal value of the position versus the value the market places on the job
Variance in responsibilities between the City's role and the typical role in the market (jobs matched
from other organizations are rarely a 100% and therefore variance may occur
What is the variance in data in the market? If there is wide disparity that would indicate that there
may be issues with the market data
Has there been difficulty in retaining or recruiting for the job? If so, a market premium may be
warranted
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