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2011 Budget Amendment 1A015: From the Director, Department of Human Resources, relative to an update on Total Compensation at Milwaukee County. (INFORMATIONAL UNLESS OTHERWISE DIRECTED BY THE COMMITTEE)
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Background
As directed in the 2011 Adopted Budget, the Department of Audit coordinated an evaluation of total employee compensation to identify the total compensation of County employees and to compare the compensation with other public and private sector employers in the community with particular attention to the County’s ability to attract and retain the workforce needed to provide key services. The Department of Audit presented findings in December 2011 and the Department of Human Resources (DHR) presented a status report in July 2012.
At the July 2012 meeting of the Committee on Finance, Personnel and Audit, DHR indicated that a report outlining the Department’s future strategy with regard to Total Compensation would be provided to the Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee in December 2012.
Defining Total Compensation
A Total Compensation, or Total Rewards, philosophy translates an organization’s vision, strategy and values into a framework that guides the design and decision-making with regard to 5 key areas: compensation, benefits, work-life balance, career development, and recognition. At Milwaukee County, our mission statement drives our service to the public, and in Human Resources we believe the most effective way to serve the people of Milwaukee County is through attracting and retaining qualified staff and building a culture that values high performance. Ultimately, building an engaged workforce will dramatically enhance our ability to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, while providing efficient, high-quality services to those we serve. The five components of Total Rewards are key to attracting, retaining and engaging our employees. Below is a summary of our efforts in 2012 to improve in these areas.
Action Item Summary
Compensation
• Hired Compensation Manager 7/2/2012.
• Hired Compensation Analyst (internal promotion) 9/24/2012.
• Re-designed Compensation Specialist role to ensure alignment of duties and resources 10/01/2012.
• Partnered with the Comptroller’s Office (Payroll) to more effectively manage HR component of Ceridian.
• Partnered with DAS on recommending merit and equity budget for 2013.
• Developed a 4-phase plan for 2013 to review all positions across the County consisting of Job Analysis, Evaluation and Pricing (see attached). The results of this project will include:
ü New standardized job descriptions
ü FLSA compliance
ü Appropriate Classifications (job groups/titling)
ü Equitable, understandable, legally defensible and externally competitive pay system
ü EEO compliance (equal & fair pay)
• Requested budget dollars for 2013 for market data resources.
• Requested a Compensation Analyst and a Metrics & Reporting Analyst position in the 2013 budget (note: These positions were not approved by the Board. We will do our best to remain as close as possible to our project timeline, given we don’t have the staff we were hoping to have to complete it.).
• Requested employee pay increases in the 2013 budget, in order to align with cost of living adjustments.
Benefits
• Improved the long-term sustainability of benefits programs through improved administration and design changes, including, but not limited to:
ü Dependent Auditing
ü Medicare Coordination Methods
ü EGWP prescription plans
ü Employee Pension Contributions
ü Reduced Pension Multipliers
• Designed a 2013 plan that both met the budget objective and ensured a health plan in-line with the competitive market.
• Initiated partnership with Compensation to assess the total value of the County benefits package, including post retirement benefits to more accurately analyze total compensation. Ongoing project throughout 2013.
Work-Life Balance
• No work or focus has been made in this area to date, although efforts listed below under Career Development will tie into this topic.
Career Development
• Hired an Employee Development Specialist (trainer).
• Developed a pilot management training program to be launched in 2013.
• Obtained learning software that may be deployed County-wide for the benefit of all employees.
Recognition
Requested an employee performance recognition award program in the 2013 budget, in order to begin the process of tying a component of compensation to performance to encourage high performance, efficiency and service (note: although this item was not approved by the Board, we will continue to seek out no-cost or low-cost alternatives to recognize employee accomplishments).
Conclusion
All of these components are critically important when considering Total Rewards, and the degree to which the County will be able to attract and retain talent. However, one of our most significant accomplishments in the second half of 2012 was staffing a Compensation division for the first time in 5 years. We hired experienced talent onto our Human Resources team to collaborate on developing our strategy and plan moving into 2013.
Rolling out the job evaluation project in 2013 will take significant effort and collaboration across all departments to ensure an accurate analysis is completed. Once our data is fully updated, consistent and accurate, it is then that we can participate effectively in market surveys and correct some of the issues we anecdotally believe exist. We will also be able to thoroughly analyze EEO data from a compensation perspective. While this initiative will take some time, I am eager for Milwaukee County to be positioned competitively from a total compensation perspective, and to participate fully in compensation review on an ongoing basis.