Agenda - 05-19-2009 - 7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 Archer Process The Archer Group was tasked with establishing internal equity within the County's pay structure. The job evaluation system that was used analyzed a set of universal compensable factors such as work requirements, aptitude/skill requirements, and responsibility factors. Using these factors to evaluate a job yielded a quantitative score for that job. The score represents the degree of difficulty/complexity associated with the job. The score is then used to establish the relative ranking of that job as compared to the evaluation scores of all the other jobs within the County. The Archer Group was also tasked with establishing external equity within the pay system by conducting wage and salary surveys to determine the competitive work of jobs. The Archer Group looked at 12 neighboring county governments and 5 municipalities. Some consideration was given to regional survey data for higher-level positions. Positions in the private sector, which are similar to positions in the organization, were also considered in the survey. Archer Results During the course of their analysis, The Archer Group identified two factors that had an impact on the county's existing pay and classification plan: changes in the content of the County's jobs and the influence and the pressures of a highly competitive labor market environment. Summary of Findings from the Archer Group include: 1. The County is approximately 6 to 8 percent below the rates being paid by competitors in the labor market in which the County draws its labor supply. The adoption of the findings of this study will put the County in a very competitive position in the labor market in which it currently competes. See Report, Section 1. 2. Under the current pay plan the County's internal equity is based on a percentage difference between grades. This pay system allows for the gap between the highest paid employee and the lowest pay employee to continuously increase over the years. The adoption of the Archer pay scale will separate the pay grades by a flat dollar amount, thereby minimizing this disparity. See Report, Section 1. 3. The results of the social justice study indicate the County has been administering its pay plan equitably in regards to race and gender. The study compares race and gender percentages at different salary rates to race and gender percentages of the Orange County population. See Report, Section 2. 4. The County's current comprehensive benefits package is very competitive compared to the competitors in the labor market in which the County draws its labor supply. The plans are either comparable to or funded at a higher level then the other organizations surveyed. The health care plan design is structured with high levels of coverage with relatively low copay, deductibles, and coinsurance. The County also pays the entire health care premium for employee coverage and additional 52% of dependant coverage premiums. The County also pays the total cost of the employee dental care premium and term life insurance up to $50,000. See Report, Section 3.