Agenda

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City Council Regular Meeting

Meeting Date:

02/09/2021

BACKGROUND

Council directed staff during the August 2020 pre-budget retreat to review the compensation compression that exists within the City. Due to wide & overlapping pay ranges; in conjunction with the City’s current merit program and a commitment in the recent Class & Comp study to maintain employee depth penetration in their respective pay range, the City continues to have compression issues between and within the Public Safety ranks. This is evidenced when employees (generally, long-term or high-performing) are making more than their supervisors. Problematic morale issues, employee dissatisfaction, low levels of engagement, and a lack of desire to promote are concerns created by compression issues.

A cross departmental team was assembled with representatives from Police, Fire, EMS, and non-Public Safety employees to review the issue, causes of the issue, and to determine potential courses of action to resolve or mitigate compression issues. Following problem definition, the committee delved deeper into framing the issue appropriately with compensation policy and practice while identifying contributing factors to the compression issues (e.g. tenure of employee; pay band width; overlap of pay bands; depth of penetration; etc.) by individual employee.

In a workshop item on November 10, 2020, Staff shared preliminary findings, including a potential solution to effectively address the compression issue. Staff reviewed key decision points with Council such as creating a separate pay plan for Public Safety (and more specifically, for each department). Police, Fire and EMS all have different pay practices, scheduled hours of operations, and rank structures, which significantly drives viability of options to effectively address the issue. Additionally, in accordance with industry standards, Staff recommended narrowing pay bands to mitigate the negative impact of large overlap between ranks. With these basic tenets decided, the team considered several different types of pay models, and ultimately settled upon a time-in-rank system. Staff has finalized pay plan models by department, and thoroughly reviewed individual impacts to each Public Safety employee. Management and HR met with representatives from each department to review the proposed models and discuss specific employee impacts. Department support for the proposed models is outlined below.

Schertz Police Association & Schertz Police Non-Association
•   Do not support the model as proposed
•   Outstanding reservations: Reduced earning potential, employees maxing out
_________________________________________________________________

Schertz Fire Association / Schertz Fire Non-Association / EMS
•   Agrees it is a step in the right direction and supports the model as proposed, with the understanding there is still a need for further evaluation and discussion on this issue
•   Outstanding reservations: ECI keeping pace with the cost of living; Revisiting Class & Comp in the next 2-3 years; Reduced earning potential, employees maxing out.

GOAL

Approve Resolution 21-R-05, approving the review and recommendations addressing Staff compression concerns.

COMMUNITY BENEFIT

Addressing the compression issues will improve staff morale, leading to greater employee engagement and productivity. Additionally, implementing a separate pay plan for Public Safety will be an effective recruitment and retention tool for future hires.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION

Approve Resolution 21-R-05, approving the review and recommendations addressing Staff compression concerns.

FISCAL IMPACT

Implementation of these models will be funded by reallocating dollars previously approved to implement the 2020 Class & Comp study, as well as, additional monies approved by Council in FY 20-21 budget. Implementation will be accelerated with the first adjustment in February 2021 and the final phase of implementation occurring in October 2021. The proposed pay plans by department are attached.

RECOMMENDATION

Approve Resolution 21-R-05, approving the review and recommendations addressing Staff compression concerns.

Attachments
Resolution 21-R-05
Public Safety Pay Models