HomeMy WebLinkAbout13 Employee Compensation Survey Agenda Item # 13
Guam
Workshop
To: Board of Directors
From: Peter Holzmeister
Date: January 26, 2006
Subject: Employee compensation survey
Why this matter is before the Board: This matter involves retaining the services of a consultant to perform
an employee compensation study, as suggested by CATT and informally endorsed by the Board. The idea
as presented to the Board was to have an independent party conduct the survey.
History: Over the past few years, we have talked about the need to have an employee compensation
package that would permit the District to recruit and retain high quality staff. We have also talked about the
need to engage in succession planning, and compensation issues become part of a succession plan. To
complicate matters, it is becoming expensive for District employees to purchase a home in Truckee.
I conducted a limited salary survey for management and professional employees that demonstrated that our
salaries are lower than agencies we benchmark. I did not survey total compensation, just salary. I am also
engaged in negotiations with the Union representing hourly wage employees. I conducted a limited survey
of certain hourly wage positions and found that in some cases those wages are also lower than comparable
agencies. If we are committed to offering a competitive compensation package to our employees, we
should determine in a most competent way what is being paid in comparable agencies in our labor market
area.
New information: Before talking with consultants we should think through the process a bit.
1. We should discuss what compensation items are significant enough to test in a survey. For
example, salary, pension, medical costs, paid time off, overtime premium and life insurance may be
typical items to be covered in a compensation survey. I am sure there are others that a consultant
would suggest.
2. We also need to think about which agencies should be used as benchmarks. We need to discuss
which District positions to survey, since it may not be economic or practical to survey all positions.
3. We should involve the Union in a discussion of the parameters of the study to help us deal with their
concerns.
4. We know of three agencies that have conducted compensation surveys during the past year or so:
the Town of Truckee, the Truckee Sanitary District, and South Tahoe PUD. in each case, they did
not prepare a detailed specification as part of the Request for Proposal process. They described in
general what deliverable they were seeking and asked qualified consultants to make specific
proposals. We may want to do the same.
We are at the early stage in the process. I would like some discussion and ideas from the Board about the
plan for the survey. I would like to meet with the Union and listen to their ideas. I would then bring to the
Board a specific agenda action item for discussion and formal decision.
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