Thibodaux staffers’ raises should be compo-ratio based, consultant says

Salary adjustment for city employees is one of many things city officials hope to accomplish in 2010 to retain and recruit qualified workers.

Mayor Charles Caillouet said Thibodaux has 10 different pay grades, with Grade 52 being the lowest level and Grade 61 being the highest. Thibodaux employees are not given an annual pay increase, but raises based on merit evaluations.

“We pretty much evaluate their performance based on a point system,” Caillouet said. “The more points they have, the bigger their raise. In the past, some employees have received up to 5 percent raises.”

However, Georgia-based Slavin Management Consultants, hired to complete a wage analysis for the city, said a merit-based evaluation is not the proper tool to gauge pay raises. The firm believes raises should be based on the compa-ratio, the average of employee actual pay divided by the range midpoint.

Former Slavin consultant Sam Trager conducted Thibodaux’s analysis. He said the compa-ratio provides Thibodaux with a benchmark to determine how close actual pay rates compare to the company-defined midpoint of a pay range.

According to the study, Thibodaux’s compa-ratio of all employees is 87 percent, making it 13 percent behind the market as a whole.

Individually, Trager said, Thibodaux has issues with how much its department heads, police supervisors, maintenance workers, utility service repairmen and laborer supervisors are paid.

Slavin believes that in order for Thibodaux to continue having a strong governmental structure, it should compensate its department directors at market level. Ideally, Trager said department heads should be paid at a rate of 95 percent to 105 percent of the market.

According to the study, five of the 10 Thibodaux department heads have pay schedules that need increasing.

The finance director should receive an $8,137.05 increase in salary, the human resource director $4,893.20, the police chief $1,286.95, the park director $7,665.75 and the recreation director $3,265.75.

“Thibodaux has always flaunted that we were for the people,” Caillouet said. “And, to be for the people, we have to have good directors in place to lend them a hand. That’s what Thibodaux has right now, and we want to keep them.”

The police department’s pay structure has police officers in lower ranks being paid at a rate above their supervisors. Trager said to alleviate pay compression among the ranks Thibodaux should adjust the pay of police supervisors.

Trager recommends that each sergeant’s pay be set at a level equal to the pay of the 28th highest paid officer plus 5 percent, meaning that each sergeant would receive a $1,237 raise, each lieutenant would receive $2,476 and each captain would receive $946.

The study also shows that maintenance workers are 24 percent behind the market, Utility workers are 22 percent behind and laborer supervisors are 17 percent behind.

Caillouet has been concerned with the city’s employee pay table for some time, he said. In August 2008, the city hired Slavin Management Consultants to perform a wage survey analysis and compare its findings to the market.

The market, according to the study, included 14 surrounding jurisdictions. Lafourche and Terrebonne parish governments and Nicholls State University all submitted pay scales for the study.

Slavin Management Consultants released the analysis in July 2009, indicating that Thibodaux’s pay table is 1.8 percent above the market. However, its average employee pay is behind the market.

“This is unacceptable,” Caillouet said. “Thibodaux has to at least meet the average salary demands of the competitive market in order to keep the wonderful employees we have and attract new ones.”

Salary adjustments for employees below the market level have been appropriated in the proposed 2010 budget. The city council is set to adopt the budget on Dec. 3.