HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 80-47 (2)CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
PAY PLAN
FOR
NON-UNION EMPLOYEES
CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
SALARY COMPENSATION PROGRAM
PURPOSE
The purpose of this Program is to provide compensation to non-
unionized employees of the City of Columbia Heights at a competitive
level with that paid by comparable employers.
PHILOSOPHY OF PROGRAM
Fully qualified and experienced employees of the City of Columbia
Heights who are performing at a satisfactory level should be paid
at a rate equal to the market rate for fully qualified experienced
employees as determined from a market analysis of similar, comparable
employers.
Employees of the City of Columbia Heights who are less than fully
qualified by experience should be paid an amount less than the com-
petitive fully qualified market rate to the extent of their less than
fully qualified status. Such employees should move to the fully qualified,
experienced rate on a schedule based upon:
1) The length of time adjudged to be normally required for a qualified
but inexperienced employee to learn and become competent in all aspects
of the job classification occupied; and 2) Satisfactory individual
employee progress toward full competence based on the time schedule
determined by number 1 above.
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Fully qualified and experienced employees performing at a less
than patisfactory level should not receive salary increases until
their performance has been evaluated as being satisfactory.
Fully qualified and experienced employees who have performed at
a more than satisfactory level should be considered for a merit
raise for a subsequemt period to be paid for a specific time period.
The merit raise should not be added to the permanent base salary,
which should remain equal to the competitive market salary paid to
fully qualified experienced individuals in comparable employment
situations.
POLICY STATEMENTS
In order to establish the context and framework for implementing
and administering the City's Pay Plan, the following Policy Statements
have been adopted by the City Council.
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CITY OF COLUMIIIA HEIGHTS
SALARY COMPENSATION POLICY STATEMENT
August ll, 1980
1. To provide and maintain salary structures sufficient to enable
management to recruit and retain competent employees for all positions.
2. To develop salary incentives for employees based upon meritorious
work performance, thus encouraging the development and potential abi-
lity of each employee.
3. To assure a salary compensation program which will meet with the
acceptance of the City Council, City Management, and City Employees.
4. To establish a program of salary compensation administration which
maintains flexibility sufficient to reflect changes from both external
and internal sources based upon changing economic and competitive con-
ditions.
5. To maintain salary relationships between positions which are in-
ternally consistent and recognize the important relative differences in
position requirements for education, experience, accountability for deci-
sions, planning and supervision. Furthermore, to recognize and re-eval-
uate positions where responsibilities have changed noticeably.
6. To provide for a uniform application of the proposed salary compen-
sation program, the following progression through pay ranges will be
granted:
a. New employees hired with the minimum experience necessary to
qualify for the position will be considered as "not fully qualified"
employees. Therefore, the salary will commence at the starting
rate and will progress to the market rate, based upon the time es-
tablished for the position and satisfactory performance.
b. A new employee hired having more than the minimum experience
required to qualify for the position, but lacking experience in the
Columbia Heights City Organization, will be hired as an employee
being "qualified." The starting salary will be above the
starting rate; however, below the market rate for the position.
Placement within the market range shall be dependent upon the time
prescribed per position to become a fully qualified individual.
Progression through the market range to the market rate shall be
dependent upon time required and satisfactory performance.
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c. Fully qualified and fully experienced employees will be at
the market rate. Employees considered to be fully qualified
will be compensated at the market rate. Fully qualified em-
ployees who fall below a level of satisfactory performance may
be compensated at a rate below the market rate.
d. Employees fully qualified and at the market rate will be eli-
gible for merit adjustments provided that significant goats are
undertaken to provide changes and/or improvements in departmental
or City operations. Such goals must receive prior approval and
shall deal with matters which go beyond the normal job requTrements
of a position. The percent of merit adjustment for which employees
may qualify will be reviewed on an annual basis.
7. To assure employee growth and development while employed by the City,
the Salary Compensation Program shall be based upon an employee performance
evaluation system to include and incorporate the achievement of significant
goals and the attainment of objectives.
8. To implement the City's Salary Compensation Program in a manner which
will recognize individual achievement, but yet be administered on a uni-
form and consistent basis.
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CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION POLICY STATEMENT
August. Il, 1980
I. To establish a system and process of employee performance eval-
uations as a means of stimulating improved performance on the part of
each employee, and of achieving the highest possible level of excell-
ence in service.
2. To provide City employees the opportunity for constructive dis-
cussion with supervisors toward establishing a mutually beneflcial
review that would assist in obtaining goals and objectives consistent
with their areas of responsibility.
3. To encourage employee development and employee counseling to include
improvement and development of job related skills.
4. To assure continued employee development and growth, regular per-
formance reviews are essential and shall be conducted by the supervisor
with the employee no earlier than one month prior to a performance re-
view date, nor no later than one month after a performance review date.
However, additional evaluation reviews may be conducted as determined
by the immediate supervisor or the City Manager.
5. To provide a salary compensation program based upon satisfactory
performance; performance evaluation must be conducted prior to any sa-
lary adjustments being initiated.
6. To provide for continued progression through the City's Salary Com-
pensation Plan, satisfactory performance shall be an essential ingre-
dient. For those employees considered to be fully qualified and who
are desirous of being considered for merit adjustments, achievement of
significant goals shall be the criteria for such adjustments. Thus, im-
proved employee performance shall continue to be recognized.
7. To establish an achievement goal setting system which shall go
beyond the normal job requirements of positions; and, furthermore,
which shall be based upon improving the City's economic conditions
or shall provide some effective change in departmental or City
operations.
(al Goal setting for new employees -- Goal setting for new employees
shall be geared to learning the process and procedures of a given depart-
ment and/or the City. Evaluations shall be based upon attainment of these
goals and the overall satisfactory performance of job accountabilitles.
(b) Goals for experienced and fully qualified employees shall be
geared to changes and/or improvements in departmental or City operations.
Such goals shall go beyond the normal job requirements of each position.
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ADMINISTRATION OF SALARY COMPENSATION PROGRAM
August 11, 1980
1. Establishing Market Rates
On an annual basis, City staff shall prepare market rates for all
positions in the City based upon reliable survey data. The information
shall be gathered from Cities considered comparable to the City of
Columbia Heights based upon geographic proximity, population relat-
ionship and the ability to pay relative to Columbia Heights. The cities
selected shall be reviewed each calendar year and a judgment made iff
terms of their continued comparability. Cities shall be added and/or
deleted accordingly. (See implementation plan for list of communities
considered to be comparable at the time of initiating the Salary
Compensation Program.)
Information contained in the market comparison shall consist of
the mean salary for each position by community. A mean of all wages
paid by comparable communities per position will be established. The
mean will then be called the market rate. Once market rates and mar-
ket ranges (see item #2 below) have been established, they will be
adjusted by the average across the board adjustment being granted for
the coming year by the comparable Cities. Wage adjustments for the
new year shall be based upon the revised market data. Each year, the
same process shall be ~ollowed, thus assuring that drastic changes in
market conditions per position will be adjusted and corrected in the
following calendar year. Therefore, errors in market rated will not
persist beyond a given year.
Where practical and feasible,_ salary survey data for private sector
employers having similar and comparable positions will be taken into
consideration when establishing market rates.
2. Salary Adjustments
Salary adjustments shall be provided to those individuals who are
within the market range for a given position. Progression through this
range shall be dependent upon the length of time adjudged to be normally
required for qualified but inexperienced employees to learn and become
competent in all aspects of the job classification occupied, and shall
be based upon satisfactory performance as determined by the supervisor
and reviewed by the City Manager. Ail City positions shall be evaluated
in terms of establishing a market range. Upon implementation of this
pay plan, market range shall have a 12% spread from the market rate.
The years to progress through the market range shall be dependent upon the
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requirements of each position.
At the time of implementing the revised Salary Compensation
Program, positions were considered to fall into two categories:
(1) requiring a minimum of two years experience before an indiv-
idual would be considered fully qualified, and (2) positions which
required three years before an individual would be considered fully
qualified. The following will be the ranges for the above two cat-
egories of positions and will indicate the percentage of the market
rate to be paid at each interval.
Two years to become fully qualified:
88% 92% 96% 100%
X X -X X
starting rate
six months
one year
market rate
two years
Three years to become fully qualified:
88% 91% 94% 97% 100%
X X X X X
starting rate six. months one year two years market rate
three years
Employees who may be hired having more than the minimum experience
required to qualify for a position, but lacking experience in the City
of Columbia Heights, will be hired above the starting rate, but below
the market rate. Based upon our present evaluation, it appears that
at least one year may be required before an individual may be considered
fully qualified as an employee within the City of Columbia Heights.
The above will be further tempered by the following criteria in
order to progress through market ranges:
mo
Individual employees salaries shall be changed each year based
on the market rate, their experience, competency level, and
their individual measured performance.
b. Each group of similar positions will have the same time inter-
val to reach the market rate.
Employees at the market rate one year may fall below the mar-
ket rate in another year when performance falls below satis-
factory levels.
d. The basic relationships between individual employees will be
one established by the market rate for their job classification.
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Only in highly unusual circumstances should the market
relationships of Job classifications be modified by
internal considerations and then, only for that period
of time such circumstances last.
Changes in ranges and market rates will occur prior to
January 1 of each year. Suah adjustments will occur on
paychecks for the first pay period in January. Merit
adjustments, for those who are at market rate and who
have undertaken goal setting, will occur on anniversary
dates, provided performance has been determined to be
satisfaatory.
3. Merit Adjustments
Once employees arrive at the market rate, they may qualify
for merit adjustments. Merit adjustments will occur annually;
however, such adjustments shall not become part of the base wage.
The market rate will be the base wage, and anything in addition
to that shall be a merit~adjustment. Merit adjustments shall be
determined annually, based upon an e~ployee's satisfactory perform-
ance of pre-established goals and objectives. In addition, the
percentage of merit adjustment which may be granted during the
calendar year shall be reviewed with the City Council prior to the
establishment of the upcoming calendar year's budget. At the time
of implementating the City's Salary Compensation Program, the merit
adjustment percentage will vary from zero to a maximum of five per
cent.
4. Performance Evaluations and Goal Setting
Changes in salary compensations shall be based upon the City's
revised Salary Compensation Program and Employee Performance Eval-
uation Program Policy Statements. Throughout their term of employ-
ment with the City of Columbia Heights, employees will be expected
to undertake goal setting as a means of providing direction to future
performance. Implementation of goal setting as part of the perform-
ance evaluation program shall be based upon the following:
a. Goal Setting:
Goal setting for new employees shall be geared to
learning the process and procedures of a given depart-
ment and/or the City.
Goals for experienced and fully qualified employees
shall be geared to changes and/or improvements in
departmental or City operations.
o
Setting of goals shall go beyond the normal job req-
uirements and shall consist of some significant under-
taking to be accomplished within a given period of time.
The value of the goal to be achieved must be greater
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than, or at least co~m,ensurate with, the value of
the wage adjustment to be received. Supervisors
will make every effort to measure the economic valu~
of goals established by employees.
4. Performance reviews regarding goal setting will be
done on a quarterly basis.
Goals for the coming year will be established at the time
of the employee's performance evaluation and will be pro-
posed by the employee. The employee and the supervisor
must reach agreement on goals to be undertaken for the
coming year. Such goals may be subject to the approval
of the City Manager. When reaching agreement on goals to
be undertaken, the supervisor may give some indication as
the possible reward (merit adjustment) if the goals are
attained.
Based upon budgetary policy as may be adopted by the City
Council, the City Manager shall establish a sum of money
to be distributed in merit adjustments on a departmental
basis. Furthermore, the City Manager shall establish
guidelines for distribution of such merit adjustment wages.
Department heads will be given a stated amount of money to
be distributed during the year for merit adjustments. Such
distributions shall be in conformance with the guidelines
as established by the City Manager. Proposed adjustments
shall be subject to review and final approval of the City
Manager.
Employees shall be evaluated based upon job performance.
In addition, goal setting shall be in addition to the normal job re-
quirem~]ts for their given position. In summary, establishing the
above performance evaluation process will assure a credible pay plan,
which will recognize individual achievement but yet be administered
on a uniform and consistent basis.
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5. Implementing The Salary Compensation Program Effective January 1, 1980
In order to provide for a logical and consistent means of implement-
ing the new Salary Compensation Program, the following guidelines shall
be followed.
1)
The plan will be effective January 1, 1980, with applicable
adjustments retroactive to that date for employees hired prior
to that date. Employees hired after January 1, 1980, will have
applicable adjustments retroactive to their date of hire.
2)
On January 1, 1980, those employees who are more than $100 under
their applicable market rate will be granted an increase of up
to 10% of their present salary, providing it does not exceed the
applicable rate.
a) The increase will be granted only if the employee's previous
evaluation was satisfactory.
3)
b)
Employees granted the increase and have an evaluation due
between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1980, the evaluation
will be held but will not be eligible for merit pay.
On January 1, 1980, those employees who are under their applicable
market rate by $99 or less will be granted an increase of up to
5% of their present salary, providing it does not exceed the app-
licable rate.
a) The increase will be granted only if the employee's previous
evaluation was satisfactory.
b)
Employees granted the increase and have an evaluation due
between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1980, the evaluation
will be held and eligible for merit pay.
4) On January 1, 1980, those employees who are over their applicable
market rate there will be no change in their salary.
a)
If an employee is not at 100% market and is eligible to pro-
gress to another level after January 1, 1980, an evaluation
will be held and if it is satisfactory, the increase will be
granted if it does not exceed the applicable rate.
b)
If an employee is at 100% market and is due a merit evaluation
after January 1, 1980, it will be held. If it is satisfactory,
the increase will be based on the position's market and not
the employee's present salary, less the amount the employee is
over market.
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As the new plan has to include many variables, it will take approximately
two years for it to be fully implemented whereby each employee is at their
appropriate level in the plan.
As discussed under Section 1, Establishing Market Rates for the City of
Columbia Heights, a primary factor that was taken into consideration in
developing the wage compensation program was the identifying of comparable
employers. In addition, circumstances and/or situations unique to the City
of Columbia Heights were taken into consideration to arrive at Market Rates
for certain positions. What follows are just a few of the factors that were
taken into consideration in establishing market rates for the various
groupings of positions for the City of Columbia Heights. It is essential
to note that not all factors were given equal weight.
The following are some of the factors taken into consideration when
developing a list of comparable employers and market rates.
a) For non-supervisory personnel, the primary cities were
Roseville, Coon Rapids, Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park,
Fridley, Blaine, New Brighton, Robbinsdale, Shoreview,
Moundsview, Crystal and Spring Lake Park.
b) For supervisory personnel, the Stanton Group V was utilized,
excluding the City of Bloomington.
c) In both non-supervisory and supervisory groups there were positions not listed in the Stanton Survey. In these cases,
Columbia Heights independently solicited salary data from comparable
cities with similar positions. The number of cities surveyed
per position was very limited and averaged about six cities.
d) In each of the above cases, Columbia Heights was added into the
group to derive at the appropriate market rates.
e) In order to ascertain whether the 1980 Columbia Heights salary
structure is in tune with the market value for city jobs, a
group of cities deemed reasonably comparable was selected.
f) The criteria for selected citied included: 1) Geographic proximity to Columbia Heights
2) Population relationship to Columbia Heights
3) Ability to pay relative to Columbia Heights
g) Once market rates were developed for comparable public sector
employers, this information was then compared to data regarding
private-sector employers. However, the information available was
limited to certain positions; those primarily in the clerical-
techincal classification.
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