Salary reform proposed for state employees

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Sep 25, 2007 by Tim Carpenter

By Tim Carpenter

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, was pleasantly surprised a study found that health, vacation and retirement benefits for state employees in Kansas compared favorably with the private sector.

The good vibe ended when salaries were examined.

"We know we have a fair number of employees, particularly in the technical professions, who are substantially below market," said Kelly, who is on a special salary commission created by the 2007 Legislature.

The commission is moving ahead with a salary reform plan authored by the Hay Group consulting firm. The goal is a new compensation system that brings wages in line with the private sector and delivers consistency to supervisors' annual evaluation of employees.

The Hay Group, hired by the Legislature to study the compensation issue, is proposing to replace the state's single salary system with a broader five-part system more directly suited to needs of a divergent work force. Consultants with the firm plan to unveil Oct. 15 how they would divide state jobs among the five salary plans.

Implementation of salary adjustments would be phased in during a five-year period, starting in July, and cost the state an estimated $71 million. The first year of the program would be devoted to training supervisors and orienting employees to the salary program. Upon implementation, no state employee would be hit with a pay cut.

Gavin Young, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Administration, said the impetus for change was evidence that state employees in Kansas had fallen an average of 9 percent behind the market. Some positions are underpaid by 30 percent, he said, while others were ahead of contemporaries working outside government.

Young said the plan was for the State Employee Compensation Oversight Commission to finish a set of policy recommendations in time for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to consider including elements of the package in her budget to the 2008 Legislature. Lawmakers likely will conduct hearings on the Hay Group's findings when the session starts in January.

Change would be welcomed by state employees scattered across Kansas.

"No one benefits from an underpaid work force," said Gary Adkins, executive director of State Employees Association of Kansas. "It leads to high turnover rates, poor morale, low productivity and increased training costs."

Jennyfer Owensby, a member of the Classified Senate at Kansas State University, said the new pay plan should be flexible enough to allow merit-based raises. The new system also should include an annual cost-of-living adjustment that automatically reflects inflation, she said.

The state must embrace a plan that "fosters an atmosphere of worth and value of the individual employees, as opposed to the current system that fosters a mind-set of devaluing employees," she said.

Janet Palmer, human resources director at the Kansas Department of Labor, said implementation of a new salary system would be challenging from a technical and cultural standpoint.

"Any new system must be trusted by employees as being fair and impartial," she said.

Tim Carpenter can be reached

at (785) 295-1158

or timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.