Proposed Metropolis Finances Begins Taking Advantage Out Of Employee Compensation

The city administrator proposed a budget for 2021-2022, which will be presented at the city council meeting on May 18. This will begin the process of changing the Greensboro City Employee Compensation Plan.

The proposed budget includes the initial stages of moving city workers from a performance-based upgrading system to a step-by-step plan.

Under the current system, employees’ annual increases are determined by their employee reviews. As part of the step plan, all employees receive the same salary in the same step regardless of their rating.

This step system removes the financial incentive for an employee to do a good job or to go beyond the expected minimum. Under the current system, employees who go beyond the minimum requirements for their work can expect higher pay. As part of the tier system, employees who do an excellent job and employees who do the minimum are paid exactly the same.

It is a major change in the city’s philosophy of how employees should be compensated for their work. However, the city council had almost no public discussion about abandoning the earnings system and moving to the step-by-step plan.

Alderman Sharon Hightower has pushed the step-by-step plan every year, but it didn’t seem like she had the support of the city council majority.

Councilor Marikay Abuzuaiter said she did not remember the city council actually voting on a full change to the city worker compensation system, but said: “It was discussed and consensus reached to instruct the city administrator to proceed. ”

Human Resources Jamiah Waterman said at the May 11 working meeting that only a limited number of employees would develop a step-by-step plan this year. He said it was a complicated process as all employees at a certain level would have to increase their salaries to the wage rate for this move, while employee salaries currently varied due to the earnings system based on the earnings increases received.

Waterman said an additional $ 100,000 was her “best estimate” of the additional cost of adding some employees to the proposed plan of the proposed budget.