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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. Page 1 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. Page 2 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. Page 3 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. Page 4 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. Page 5 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 Page 6 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. Page 7 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 Page 8 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. Page 9 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. Page 1 0 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. ~age 11