5/23 Segal Followup
Hi all,
This is a followup to yesterday’s weekly email - I have some additional information both on Elections and the Segal Study.
Elections: If anyone would like to attend the May 29th Meet the Candidate sessions remotely, you can sign up at this link. I also wanted to remind people that elections will be happening the first week of June - if you will not be at work but want to vote, please send me your personal email before Monday, June 2nd.
Segal: UAEA and TSA are still gathering information on the Segal market study. We had a meeting with HR Director Rebecca Strisko and HR Manager Lawrence LaVictoire on Tuesday, May 20th, where we received some additional clarifying information. Many of our questions were based on the feedback we received from members who filled out the Segal survey - if you have additional questions, please feel free to email me. We plan to ask for additional information from Segal but hope this can answer some immediate concerns.
Why is my pay now below other similar roles across the Arizona market?
The Segal study attempted to both conduct a market study and achieve some level of parity between similar roles across the organization. That was the purpose of the “Segal Evaluator” tool which was mentioned in their presentations. If 2 managers in different departments have similar responsibilities and educational requirements, for instance, Segal tried to balance their pay bands when before there may have been some roles that were disproportionately low or high.. We think they have been broadly successful but that doesn’t mean there may not be changes that need to be made with regards to pay parity.
Some people have seen a change to their pay ranges as a result of the market study. I want to be clear - UAEA is interested in confirming that the comparisons Segal did were accurate. That said, a potential risk of market studies is that pay ranges can decrease over time, especially if jobs are in high demand. UAEA is trying to get the background data to confirm the accuracy of market matches - we also are comparing each job with others in the same grade. That does not mean that we suspect every pay range reduction was improper though - it very well could be that the market has moved.
Even if UAEA is unable to achieve changes now, HR committed to keeping an eye on retention and hiring rates in different workgroups. If a workgroup is struggling to retain talent or hire people at the market rate, HR may decide to raise employee pay or change job grade placement. Their priority at the moment is finalizing these changes by July 1st though - it may be a few months before they look more closely at workgroup changes.
Are Pay Discussions Confidential?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows employees to discuss wages without repercussions. Employers can ask employees to keep things confidential, but they cannot do anything to you if you ignore them. With that said, employers may ask employees to not share information with colleagues in a more general sense, such as if an employee is currently serving a PIP because they spend too much bothering their peers each day. In that instance, an employer, such as the City of Tempe, can make the reasonable request that an employee not talk to their peers during work hours, but employees still have the right to discuss wages generally.
I should also note that the pay of all employees is a public record and can be requested by any person. You can also get a generalized idea of employee pay by referencing the information HR has published online with pay grades.
I’m at or near the top of my range. I want to promote to another role but the minimum of that role falls below what I make now. Would I receive a pay cut if I promote to that new role? (ie, someone makes $50k, the minimum of the promotional role is $45k).
No one will receive a pay cut for promoting. If you promote and your pay falls in the middle of that new grade, you will make at least that amount and be pushed to the point in the new grade. HR is finalizing the rules around how promotions will work in this new system but you should also see a pay bump for promoting to a new grade. Those rules will be approved by the 6-sided Partnership, including UAEA.
Do employees receive both a COLA and a range bump on their anniversary, or just the range bump?
Employees will receive a range bump on their anniversary date. Every range bump will be higher than the previous COLA’s negotiated by UAEA.
What will future market studies look like?
The City is still finalizing what future market studies will look like but they will be similar to prior efforts, insofar as they will adjust the pay ranges of each grade based on how the market is moving. If a minimum and maximum of a pay range move up with a market study, every step will receive a bump. Unlike prior market studies, which only increased employee pay if an employee fell below the new minimum (ie, someone makes $45k, the market study sets a minimum of the pay scale as $50k, that person gets bumped to $50k - someone else in the same role making $51k would not see a change from that adjustment) future market adjustments will adjust every step and every employee’s pay on that step. If you’re on step 7 making $58k per year and the market study moves step 7 to $60k per year, you would get an immediate adjustment to $60k, then would move to step 8 on your next anniversary.
Please note the importance of this change. Even if your range sees massive market adjustments in future years, you will still be moving up the range every year. Even if the top out pay of your grade goes up by $30k in 10 years, you will still be maxed out at that point and not stuck in the middle of the range like in the past.
This system does not prevent UAEA from trying to negotiate better wages in future MOUs. That said, our focus may be trying to prevent inflationary harm to wages, not just additional bumps to base pay.
If a role was vacant during the JDQ, who filled out the position description?
Vacant roles had JDQs filled out by supervisors or managers who oversee that position.
What changes are coming to job descriptions?
Minimal changes are coming to job descriptions. No employees will be seeing a reduction in job scope or responsibilities due to this study. There may be a reduction in the total language used on job descriptions to better describe the core duties of the role. Language may also be tweaked to match what similar roles describe the work responsibilities as. Segal will also likely change the “knowledge, skills, and abilities” section that describes minimum requirements to do the role - this will be based on JDQ feedback.
Will there be changes made to whether certain jobs are exempt/non-exempt?
Rebecca believes there are only a few roles that may seem changes due to this study - those changes will be based on FLSA rules and comparable market matches having specific classifications.
UAEA and TSA may discuss this further and make recommendations.
Will there be changes to whether certain jobs are UAEA or TSA classified?
We do not believe that any of the changes will impact this. That said, our groups may make recommendations for changes based on grouping. Our intention is not to kick anybody out of our respective groups but rather ensure fairness and give everyone representatives that have the knowledge and experience needed to represent their interests at their level.
Some employees believe they were told Segal would use a combination of JDQ data and interviews with specific workgroups to better understand niche positions. Did any of those interviews ever take place/were they mistaken about hearing this?
HR does not believe Segal ever discussed in-person interviews. They don’t believe any took place. If anyone can find any information provided from the City or Segal that indicates otherwise, please let us know.
How did Segal/the City develop job grades?
Segal made recommendations based on how similar organizations classify their pay structures. They originally recommended 23 grades - HR pushed for 25 to ensure proper pay separation and growth potential for employees.
UAEA still wants some more information on this.
How did Segal/the City determine the appropriate number of steps?
HR pushed for every employee to be at the top of their grade in 10 years. Segal said that was aggressive, but developed the model based on this. Fewer steps would have cost the City a lot more, more steps would have decreased the pay bump employees receive each year. This model means every employee gets to the top of their grade after 10 years of service and still has opportunities for growth if they are promoted after they reach the top of their grade.
UAEA has not done the research on what other Valley cities do. If we can find comparable cities that move people through the ranges faster, that may be a topic for future negotiations.
Thanks, everyone!