HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/1/2022 Item 6a, Johnson / Domini - Staff Agenda Correspondence
Council Agenda Correspondence
City of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum
DATE: February 1, 2022
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Nickole Domini, Human Resources Director
VIA: Derek Johnson, City ManagerDJ
SUBJECT: Item # 6a 2021 Benchmark Compensation Study Report
Staff received the following questions, regarding the Benchmark Compensation Study.
italics:
1) On Packet Page 140, it notes that all three groups of employees have resolutions
or MOUs. Is a resolution used for unrepresented management, instead of an
MOU?
Yes, resolutions are used for both the unrepresented management and
unrepresented confidential employee groups; whereas a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA)is used for represented groups like SLOCEA.
2) Why were Petaluma and Pleasanton used as comps for Fire Chief and not for all
employees? Why different for that class?
For the Fire Chief classification, the previously used comparator agencies for our
represented Fire employee group were used. The reason for this is to help align
the salary for the Fire Chief so that adequate compaction remains intact with their
subordinates.
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The City of San Luis Obispo is a very unique agency, and it is difficult to find
that we are attracting and losing more employees to the Southern California
region, especially the Los Angeles area. Staff worked closely with the employee
advisory committee to analyze the cities in those regions that are both full-service
cities (specifically, including Water and Sewer for this study) and were similar in
terms of other demographic factors. These agencies are similar in terms of
housing costs, percentage in the civilian labor force, and are in the same
population range as other comparator agencies. Additionally, Culver City
experiences a similar influx in their daytime population to the City of San Luis
Obispo.
Item 6a. Benchmark Compensation Study Page 2
3) I know the
group of classic employees is rapidly decreasing at the County.
For SLOCEA, Management, and Confidential employee groups:
o 42% in Classic 1 (35%) and Classic 2 (7%)
o 58% in PEPRA
4) In the chart on page 156, are the numbers in that chart for Employee or
Employee + family? Are the amounts for management vs. SLOCEA? This
seems like an important distinction to determine why total comp is below market
by different amounts for represented and unrepresented.
The chart on page 156 is for Employee + Family. The consultants used the
contribution for the general unit (similar to SLOCEA).
5) In looking at the table on Page 160, if all these classes get equity adjustments to
bring them up to 5% or less undermarket, will that create compaction with any of
their superiors or subordinate job classes? I find the use of the Director of Public
Works and the Deputy classes interesting, in particular because they seem like
they should be undermarket, theoretically, by about the same percentage. But,
instead, the Deputy is LESS undermarket then the Director.
There were a few benchmarks selected that had direct supervisor-subordinate
relationships, such as Director of Public Works and the Deputy, to see how the
internal relationships related to comparator agencies. The City has a
Classification and Compensation Plan that was adopted by Council a few years
ago that includes optimal differentials for different levels of supervision. Human
Resources staff have taken a look at compaction if the City brought all
employees to median, and there were only three instances of compaction issues.
The compaction issues are only a few percentage points and should be relatively
easy to address as staff progress to the next steps of this process, implementing
the results.
6) Have we ever thought about doing a Deferred Comp match as a benefit?
Yes, staff have considered a Deferred Comp match as a benefit. A few years
ago, management employees received a deferred compensation contribution of
1% (not a match, just a contribution). This contribution was eliminated with the
Fiscal Health Response Plan, as the management team was more interested in
receiving a direct increase to salary than retaining the deferred compensation
contribution. A deferred compensation match is on our minds, especially seeing
many deferred contributions present in the survey. Staff is keeping this in mind
as conversations are had for successor resolutions or MOAs.