Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 09-10-13--regular — reading text

In addition to the AT, Evergreen will also distribute our Management Issues Tool ( MIT). The MIT is distributed to supervisors and managers d and is used to collect specific information from supervisors and managers related to such issues as recruitment and retention problems, classification issues, pay equity issues, problems with titles, and other related issues. Each MIT will be logged and a specific response will be provided. The MIT process is designed to allow supervisors and managers to give direct Input into the process and they serve as " red flags - to Evergreen Solutions staff during the analysis portion of the project. Preliminary As a starting point for analysis, Evergreen' s project consultants review Assessment the client' s database in comparison to the pay plan and information collected from the JATs to produce a preliminary assessment. The preliminary assessment summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of your human resource management system. The compensation analysis focuses on the number of pay grades, range widths, percentage differences between grades, step plans versus open range plans, and the expected time to reach full job competency. The overall analysis focuses on structure, movement, and equity (internal) as well as specific concerns such as turnover, longevity, compression, and range anomalies. The issues we identify in the assessment become core considerations in creating the potential solutions later in the process. Job Evaluation The next step in the process is to review responses to the JATs and identify any possible misclassifications. Once the review of the JATS has been completed, Evergreen' s consultants will evaluate all jobs on each of the compensatory factors, score each position, and determine if there is any need for further Investigation of specific positions. If serious discrepancies exist, Evergreen' s consultants will work directly with the client's Project Manager to resolve any issues. Once work has been properly classified, changes in the current classification system rankings can be recommended. Our goal Is to produce a classification system that reflects the internal equity relationships suggested by the AT scoring conducted earlier. Compensation Our approach to compensation analysis is based on the belief that compensation should be organization-specific, fair, equitable, and directly tied to strategic goals. To ensure that all these criteria are met, we will conduct an extensive analysis on the relevant labor market, the internal structure and inter -relatedness of jobs within the organization, and the relative worth of jobs within the organization visa -vis the compensation philosophy. The most traditional component of a total compensation program is base pay (fixed pay). However, inclusion of benefits in total compensation strategy is not a new concept. Provision of benefits was originally a recruitment tool, though over time the provision of core benefits has become an expectation. Research shows that public sector organizations commonly use superior benefits packages as a way to offset structural disadvantages in base pay. The purpose of the survey is to collect Gr• 12111 Eveegmen Solutions, LLC Page a- 8  9 Red 91,0- Cl, ddtl io PJBMV : 409Z) 011' suopnloS uaaJBJaA3 - lesodOJd Pig 8L0-£ L ddil : luawgoegtl N a_ information for comparison to current offerings, and make Ympq a recommendations for change consistent with the parameters of the compensation philosophy. Market Survey A key component of assessing compensation is to consider market Position, which is sometimes referred to as external equity or competitiveness. Evergreen' s consultants wait until well into the classification analysis to design the market survey to ensure thatjobs are understood, anomalies in classification characteristics are documented, and sufficient input has been received. The market survey will obtain standard range information related to minimum, midpoint, and maximum salaries. Data collection will focus on the public sector, but will include information from the private sector where applicable. Further, we will took to include any employers to whom the organization has recently lost employees. In addition, a benefits survey will also be administered in tandem with the market survey. Special consideration can be given to select highly competitive, market -driven positions if necessary. Benchmarks One of the most important components of the external assessment is in the selection and utilization of benchmark positions for the labor market survey. We will work with the client to identify the appropriate number of benchmark positions to best suit the client's needs in the labor market survey. Based on our experience, we have found that it is simply not practical to survey all positions within the organization —the resulting surveys become too cumbersome for labor market peers to complete, and the response rate on the whole suffers. We ensure, through multiple checks and balances, that the benchmark positions chosen will represent a broad spectrum of positions across the organization, from all job families, pay levels, and functional areas. Targets To conduct an external labor market assessment, we work with the client to Identify the most appropriate targets to survey. Evergreen selects peer organizations based on the local labor competition, regional markets, and class specific - markets. Peer organizations should be those organizations that compete with the client for labor in at least one job family. An appropriate mix of peers in the public and private sectors will be included in the survey, and if necessary, augmented with published secondary data sources. Typically, Evergreen waits until the outreach process has been completed to Identify the complete list of market peers. This is because we often will uncover specific information during the focus group and interview sessions that identifies potentially critical survey targets. ideally, we would like to work with the client after the outreach has been concluded to identify the final list of potential market peers. An important factor of our methodology is that the client has the final approval of all aspects of the study. We will not proceed with the analysis unless the client is completely comfortable with the survey targets chosen. Often, there are different factors impacting an Evergreen Solutions, LLC Page a -9 8 Red 81. 0-£ 1 dd2110 PleMV : POSZ) 0l1' suonnlo8 u30J6J3n3 - lesodotd Pig 81,0-Et dJ8: luawg0eny aa a'a' m0m0 organization, such as proximity to a major metropolitan area, technology aAaA corridor, or specific market (i. e., military base), that have a direct effect on its ability to recruit and retain employees in specific positions. These factors have to be taken into account when selecting survey targets. Once the targets are selected and approved, the survey instrument is developed and sent to the client for final approval. Subsequent to client approval, the survey is then distributed to the targets in both paper and electronic formats. Evergreen Solutions uses four f-old method of communicating with respondents. Our staff notifies the target group that the survey is being sent or made available, confirms receipt, and encourages participation. Once the data are received, they are cleaned, validated, and summarized. A separate report is issued that shows the results of the