Posted 3/14/12 – One of the City Council’s stated objectives is to “Attract, Develop and Retain Quality Staff to Improve and Enhance Quality Services.” An employee salary and benefit comparison received and filed by the Council showed just how difficult a task that is.
According to the report, employee salaries are 26% below market, which “…greatly affects the City’s ability to recruit and retain quality employees. The City often has to perform multiple recruitments before filling management level and line staff positions, or identify alternatives to fill vacant positions.”
The mean percent salary difference ranged from 10% below market for the Assistant Planner to 44% below market for the Police Chief, the report said. Out of the 44 positions surveyed, the City of Sierra Madre ranked lowest paid for 34 of the jobs and for an additional 8 jobs, the City was ranked as the second lowest paid.
Of particular concern is the Public Works water division, where certain positions are required by the state to be filled by staff holding certain levels of certification. Because these positions are in demand, certified personnel can shop around for jobs, and because the City pays an average of 25% lower than other Cities, it rarely receives applications from people that have those certifications. This means that the City must hire personnel with little or no water experience, and then spend a great deal of time and money training them and helping them get their certifications.
The report notes that five of the eight management level City employees will be eligible for retirement in the next five years, with an additional fifteen non-management employees also becoming eligible. It takes a minimum of 18 weeks (22 weeks for public safety employees) to complete an all-inclusive outside recruitment to hire a full-time employee, and then there is the learning curve/training. The Personnel Division budgets $25,000 year in recruitment and hiring costs, and estimates that a minimum of 1,400 hours are spent on recruitment and training annually.