growing with woodstock(3)

GROWING WITH WOODSTOCK

A city cannot grow without the right people

TAKE STOCK IN GROWTH

As one of 535 cities and towns in the State of Georgia, Woodstock defines itself as a sustainable city with hometown pride. Residents can enjoy an active lifestyle amidst the natural beauty and pedestrian-friendly downtown. In order to foster this type of community, the City’s managers have to find the right people to serve its citizens. Managers rely on Human Resources to help find and retain the right people for the right jobs.


The first question for any manager is – who?

?


Who will fight fires?


Who will police the City’s streets and neighborhoods?


Who will repair broken pipes; patch and fill potholes; and ensure that icy roads are treated?


The answer to the question of who will perform critical city functions depends in part on how competitively the City pays its fire fighters, police officers, streets maintenance workers and other staff.


The last time the City attempted to determine the competitiveness of its compensation system was almost ten years ago in 2005.


Annually

Biennially (every 2 years)

Semi-annually (twice per year)

Other

70%

12%

1%

17%

According to a recent study conducted by WorldatWork and Deloitte Consulting, LLP, salary scales are updated fairly often. Of the 80% who responded that the salary ranges are adjusted at a consistent frequency in their organization, 70% said salary ranges are adjusted on an annual basis, while 12% said salary ranges are adjusted every two years. Frequent “Other” text responses on structure frequency included “as needed,” “every three years” and “as the market shifts.” Please note that cost-of-living adjustments coincide with shifts in the consumer price index or similar measurement but not the labor market.


In 2012, an Atlanta Metro Area City with fifty-five percent fewer citizens than Woodstock paid its entry level police officers five percent more than Woodstock. Does the City wish to lag a much smaller city in what it pays law enforcement officers?


Should an employer adjust wage and salary levels based only on cost-of-living indices or on labor markets or both? Should an employer lag, meet or exceed competitors’ wage and salary scales? What does it mean and why does it matter?


According to author Joan Pynes in her work, Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations:

“Strategic decisions about pay levels, pay structures, job evaluation and incentive pay systems influence the ability of an organization to compete in the marketplace to attract the most qualified and competent applicants and retain its most talented and productive employees.”


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Series1

City of Woodstock Yearly Turnover

2010: 11.73%

2011: 12.37%

2012: 17.55%

The City’s ability to retain employees remains at risk due to its consistently high turnover rate exceeding the nine percent national average for the past three years.


In CY 2013, the City’s annual turnover rate amounted to thirteen percent.

According to a recent online Forbes.com article, “Kropp says he is seeing an increased emphasis placed on overall compensation as the economy continues its recovery. ‘When you look at employee behavior from 2009, for example, people would have gladly accepted much less just to have a job,’ he says. ‘In the past nine months, the total reward has risen dramatically in importance.’

According to CEB’s Quarterly Global Labor Market research, the top five things employees look for when seeking a new job are:

Stability

Compensation

Respect

Health Benefits

Work-Life Balance

http://www.executiveboard.com/


In a quick online comparison of Woodstock wages with comparable cities in the metro region using DCA salary survey data from 2012, Woodstock lags more frequently than it meets or exceeds the labor market levels of the metro area.

salary

?


You can please some of the

people some of the time…

But you can’t please all of the

people all of the time.

There are lots of options for bench-marking City positions to determine where the City lags the market. One point – attempt to minimize complaints.


You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.

Henry Ford

HR is requesting Council Guidance on how to best address lagging wages among key City positions.

growing with woodstock(3)

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