Salary Study Implementation

 

Submitted by Anna Lyle

Happy Holidays!  As we approach the new year, I’m pleased to provide details about the implementation of the salary study recommendations made by Evergreen Solutions.  I will begin with the key points, followed by additional details.

Key Points

• The implementation of this study is something to celebrate!  This salary study is the most impactful that I have seen in my 26+ years of library human resources work, especially for front-line staff.  This is truly a tremendous achievement and I appreciate everyone’s input and patience as we have worked through this long process.
• FCPL will begin using the new payscale developed by Evergreen Solutions, effective pay period #1 (begins December 26, 2021).  All positions have been assigned a paygrade on that payscale.  (The new payscale and paygrades are available on SharePoint (Support Services site, then Paygrades folder).
• All current employees will receive a pay increase effective pay period #1, with new pay rates reflected on the paychecks issued on January 14, 2022.
• These pay increases are neither merit increases nor cost of living increases.  Rather, they are intended to bring FCPL’s payscale and paygrades in line with the market. 
• The amount of an individual employee’s increase depends on the position held and the employee’s current pay relative to their new paygrade.
• All employees will receive a letter on or before December 31^st with details about their individual pay.

Additional Details

Evergreen: The new payscale, paygrades, and each employee’s placement within their paygrade are the result of recommendations made by a third-party consultant, Evergreen Solutions, which specializes in public sector organizations.  The process to get to this point has taken nearly two years from start to finish.  The library first contracted with Evergreen Solutions after receiving budget approval at the February 2020 Library Board meeting.  Evergreen Solutions was contracted to conduct a salary study, develop a new pay grades system, and place existing positions into this new system.  The project was originally intended to include multiple site visits for employee focus groups and other meetings.  This work was delayed by the pandemic, but was eventually done virtually in late August 2020.  Evergreen consultants conducted phone and virtual interviews with most staff, ensuring representation from the wide range of FCPL job titles and functions. Next, Evergreen solicited salary data from other area libraries, school systems, and county governments (market peers).  Data for private sector businesses were also consulted.  Evergreen provided its final recommendations in March 2021.

Funding: The Library Board and administrative staff have pursued funding to implement Evergreen’s recommendations since the beginning of the project.  Our initial CY2021 budget request to the county in March 2020 did not move forward due to competing priorities and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  We also did not have the final study results to provide detailed data.  Our March 2021 request for funding beginning January 2022 was initially denied by the Board of Commissioners, but a lower request was later approved.  As shared in the October 13, 2021 blog post, this pay increase is made possible though a combination of new County funding, use of the Library’s fund balance (savings), and elimination of three part-time positions. 

Bringing Everyone to the Minimum or Higher: Every employee’s pay will be increased at least to the minimum of their new paygrade.  For some employees, this will be a modest amount; for others, this will be a significant amount.  If your current pay is not significantly different from your new pay range, please understand that this means that you are already being paid in line with the market.

3 Tiers: Employees with 2 or more years in their current position (as of 1/1/2022) will be placed above the minimum, divided into three tiers: 2 – 4 years, 4 – 8 years, and >8 years.  Please note that FCPL HR staff looked at each employee’s circumstances and made adjustments before we provided the consultants with the “classification date”—the date an employee began their current position.  For example, for purposes of time in a position, we considered Information Specialist, Youth Specialist, and Outreach Specialist as the same positions so that employees would not be penalized for having transferred between those similar positions.  We also made adjustments in employees’ favor in situations in which a departmental reorganization or other administrative change resulted in a position change.

Note: You may recall that I previously outlined the tiers as 1 - 3 years, 3 – 7 years, and >7 years.  These are groupings that the consultants recommended and calculated, but the calculations were done as of 1/1/2021 and we are implementing the plan in January 2022.  So, the end result is that the tiers are raised by one year. 

Fairness: This salary study implementation will benefit all current and future employees.  But I understand that some staff may be disappointed that their increases are not higher and may feel that the results are not fair.  Please keep in mind that those staff not identified for a significant increase have already been earning at a level that is in line with the market value of their position.

In addition to the increases recommended by the consultants, we are taking the additional step of ensuring that all employees who would have been eligible for a merit increase receive at least a 4% increase.  This benefits employees who have been in their positions for many years and are already being paid at the market level.

Total Compensation: Please remember that salary is one element of your total compensation. The cost of implementing a $1 pay increase for a classified staff member is actually $1.29 when benefits are included.  FCPL’s cost for Teachers Retirement, Social Security, Medicare, life insurance, and short-term and long-term disability insurance all increase as salary increases.

I truly believe that this salary study will be a game changer in terms of our ability to fairly compensate employees and attract and retain amazing FCPL team members.  If you have any questions, please contact Nikki Watkins or me.