City to unveil pay study results

This May 2012 file photo shows the John G. Christy Municipal Building, commonly known as City Hall, at 320 E. McCarty St. in Jefferson City.
This May 2012 file photo shows the John G. Christy Municipal Building, commonly known as City Hall, at 320 E. McCarty St. in Jefferson City.

Six months in the making and with acknowledged great anticipation from all parties involved, the Jefferson City Council, its employees and the public will get their first look at the Job Classification System and Pay Plan Analysis at City Hall at 6 p.m. Monday.

Implementing the three major suggestions in the study could pack a $969,868 wallop to the city budget next year. Details of these proposals should attract a significant crowd to Monday night's meeting, City Administrator Steve Crowell said. The professional municipal manager added the study will be invaluable in allowing city staff leaders to recruit, hire and retain high quality employees against the competition of the State of Missouri and the many employers in nearby Columbia.

Known as "the pay plan," the study will be formally explained, with words, graphs and pictures, by the Austin Peters Group, a nationally prominent human resources consultancy based in Overland Park, Kansas. The firm's two top officers, President Rebecca G. Crowder and Vice President Elizabeth Tatarko, each with 25 years experience, were personally involved in the Jefferson City study. Crowell said the Austin Peters Group staff were in the city for more than 160 hours conducting face-to-face interviews with many of the city's more than 400 employees.

The city's finance director, Margie Mueller, and human resources director, Gail Strope, devoted many hours the past six months working on the study with Austin Peters, Crowell said, along with the city's other department directors who were tasked with providing data for the consultants.

Austin Peters serves cities, counties, school districts and all manner of public and private clients. It was chosen by the National League of Cities to conduct a landmark human resource study. Austin Peters has prepared plans similar to the one it will unveil at city hall Monday for Lee's Summit, Grandview, Salem, Smithville, Oklahoma City and Wichita.

For Jefferson City, Austin Peters has been on the case since May after winning a $39,000 bid for the assignment.

Its scope of its analysis included three elements:

Rewriting job descriptions and providing guidance for 129 positions;

Evaluating and classifying positions into pay ranges;

And, determining what market adjustments should be made based upon information obtained from peers for wages and benefits.

Monday's delivery of the finished analysis, which was still being tweaked just before Thanksgiving, follows what Austin Peters describes as "ongoing meetings with employees, employee committees, department directors, human resources and (Crowell)."

Mayor Carrie Tergin and Crowell both had statements when asked to comment about what they'll learn from Austin Peters at Monday's gathering.

Tergin said, "The City Council and I look forward to the consultant's presentation and recommendations to be presented Nov. 28. We value all of our employees who work so hard for the city. The city's ability to provide the level of service expected by our citizens, businesses and visitors to the city is directly related to the employees who provide those services. Updating the city's Classification and Compensation Plan is a crucial component to providing an excellent quality of life in the City of Jefferson."

For his part, Crowell noted, "The purpose of the Classification and Compensation Analysis is to ensure that the city is able to continue to recognize employee performance, as well as to recruit and retain excellent employees, through whom the city provides its services. We look forward to the consultant's presentation to the mayor and city council."

Crowell said Austin Peters also is providing a comparison of the city's total budget expenditures and full-time equivalent employees to peer cities. "Prior to beginning the analysis," Crowell said, "the consultant met with the mayor and city council to develop project parameters and to identify expected outcomes. The consultant also solicited input from the public regarding the proposed input on various aspects of the analysis, including providing in depth information to the consultant regarding the specifics of their particular job."

The methodology Austin Peters used to develop the hefty analysis has one-on-one interviews with employees at its foundation.

"(We) began the process with a review of all job descriptions and a discussion with employees during one-on-one interviews," Austin Peters said. "Employee interviews were held over several days and 120 hours of interviews to provide job description comments and reevaluate employees' positions. Management interviews were also conducted to assess employers' responsibilities, decision making, supervisory responsibility, knowledge, budget responsibility, contact with the public and physical and working environmental factors. The purpose of the interview was to gather information to make changes in job descriptions and to obtain necessary details so that adequate evaluation and classification of the position could be made, and the market comparisons were appropriate."

Those attending Monday's meeting will learn how Austin Peters evaluated each of the city's many jobs. Seven factors were involved: decision-making, 25 percent; supervisory, 25 percent; knowledge, 20 percent; budget impact, 10 percent; contacts, 10 percent; physical skills, 5 percent; and working conditions, 5 percent.

The complete Austin Peters analysis will be available on the city's website, jeffcitymo.org.