HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP1. Equal Pay Report
Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Bethany Jorgenson, Human Resources Manager
Chris Kukulski, City Manager
SUBJECT: City Progress Report – Equal Pay
MEETING DATE: April 18, 2016
AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Special Presentation
RECOMMENDATION: Review progress, listen to proclamation, ask questions, and
provide comments.
BACKGROUND: On June 8, 2015, the City Commission passed Resolution 4601, Equal
Pay for Equal Work which committed that the City would work to collect data, identify best
practices, evaluate employment practices against the “Thrive Index”, and commemorate Equal
Pay Day annually.
Since Resolution 4601 was issued, City of Bozeman Human Resources has thoroughly analyzed
pay for existing employees. The City’s existing hiring practices and pay practices strictly
prohibit discrimination of any type based on gender, and the data and subsequent analysis did not
highlight any gender-based pay issues. Where there are discrepancies in pay among employees
in the same job class, further analysis has shown the following:
• Difference in length of time in position;
• Difference in education and experience at the time of hire;
and/or;
• Collective bargaining agreement pay plan differences at time of hire
72
Human Resources is now in the process of collecting all position history and pay history data
from paper employment files and entering that information into the Human Resources
Information System (HRIS). When this data has been collected and entered, Human Resources
will then be able to have a complete report of each employee’s pay and position history at a
glance. The result will be a more comprehensive picture of pay within the organization. For
example, if Employee A and Employee B have the same position but earn different rates of pay,
Human Resources could run a system report which would provide information that informed the
pay decision:education and experience at the time of hire, length of time in position, and
collective bargaining history.. This will be much more useful to an equal pay discussion than the
current state of limited computerized data(which describes an employee’s initial seniority date
and limited pay information), and voluminous historical paper files.
Human Resources has compared City of Bozeman employment practices against the “Thrive
Index” and found that by-in-large, the City has been upholding the objectives put forth, as hiring
and employment practices are designed to be fair and equitable to all applicants and employees.
CITY OF BOZEMAN AND THE THRIVE INDEX
Adequate wages and benefits City of
Bozeman
Comment
Are part-time workers paid the same (per hour, including benefits)
as full-time workers performing the same or similar tasks?
Y
Are most part-time workers guaranteed a minimum number of hours
per week? If not, are there ways they could be?
N Some departments
guarantee a range of hours
vs. a set schedule - i.e. at
least 12, but not more than
18
Are workers who remain on the job for a specified period of time
eligible for a pay increase?
Y
Are workers who remain on the job for a specified period of time
eligible for paid sick leave for themselves or to care for a family
member?
Y
73
When job-skill demands or responsibilities increase, are wages
adjusted upward?
Sometimes The City works to ensure
employees are working
within their class
specification.
Reclassifications and/or
promotions are the avenue
for pay increases, and
department heads request
those during the annual
budget process.
Are workers paid for their entire scheduled shift, even if business is
slow?
Sometimes Employees get paid for the
hours they work. Shifts are
not typically cut short, but if
there is an urgent need to
close a facility, employees
would not be paid for the
closure. This rarely
happens.
Are hourly wages higher for nonstandard shifts, such as nights or
weekends?
Sometimes Depending on the Collective
Bargaining Agreement,
there may be shift
premiums.
Opportunities for Upward Mobility
Do low-wage workers have opportunities for on-the-job or cross-task
training or outside educational opportunities that can lead to upward
mobility?
Y
Can schedules accommodate workers’ pursuit of educational
opportunities?
Sometimes The City makes every effort
to accommodate employees’
requests for time off and/or
modified schedules.
However, based on the need
to efficiently and safely
operate City business, not
every request can be granted
every time.
When skill demands or job responsibilities increase, is training
provided for newly assigned tasks?
Y
74
Can workers cross-train in different areas to increase their flexibility
and value to the company (recognizing that outsourcing of some
functional areas or other factors may prohibit this)?
Y
Are there opportunities for upward mobility within the company that
do not require geographic relocation?
Y
Support for personal and family needs
Can worker breaks be scheduled to accommodate the need for
phone calls at pre-specified times for working caregivers?
Y
Are occasional calls for urgent matters allowable? Can children or
caregivers call an employee at work when necessary?
Y
Are workers who remain on the job for a specified period of time
eligible during their regular work hours to care for their health or a
family member’s without losing pay (e.g., able to leave for an hour
or two for a trip to the doctor)?
Y
Can personal time be taken in small increments of an hour or two
(for doctor’s appointments, parent-teacher conferences, educational
opportunities, etc.)?
Y
Do you offer paid or unpaid maternity or paternity leave for
workers? Is the length of this leave negotiable?
Y - up to 12
weeks
Work scheduling, predictability, and flexibility
Is there a systematic way for workers to communicate their
preferences for hours and schedules? If not, could some such system
be implemented?
Y
Does the shift/hours scheduling system take account of workers’
constraints and preferences?
Y
Are work schedules announced more than a day or two in advance?
Can workers trade shifts with colleagues when time conflicts
develop (allow “shift-swapping”)?
Y
If workers are asked to stay beyond the end of scheduled shifts to
finish assignments or for administrative procedures, are they given
advance notice of when this may be required?
Y
Does the measured workload take into account the quality or
difficulty of tasks along with simpler measures of the number of
customers, clients, or patients?
Y
Autonomy, respect, and trust
Are workers protected from “no-fault” absence or tardiness policies
(ones that lead to disciplinary actions or dismissal, even for excused
Y
75
absences)?
Are workers allowed or encouraged to contribute ideas to better
organize or improve their work teams or work areas?
Y
Can workers occasionally make personal phone calls? Y
Human Resources has analyzed recruitment strategies. Changes have been made to existing
processes with the goal of increasing diversity to national averages in positions where
underutilization of specific genders have been noted. Specifically, the City has made efforts to
attract more female applicants to historically male-dominated departments, such as Police, Fire,
and Public Works, and to attract more male applicants to historically female-dominated
departments, such as the Library.
Since additional and pointed efforts have begun, the City has:
• Increased female applicants to the Police Department by more than 300%
• Increased overall applicants to the Police Department by 60%.
• Hired a qualified female applicant in the Fire Department (the first in department history)
• Hired a qualified female applicant in Public Works
• Promoted two male employees at the Library
• Hired a qualified male employee at the Library
UNRESOLVED ISSUES: The collection of employee data and the process of adding data to
the HRIS is a significant task and will remain unresolved until April, 2017.
ALTERNATIVES: As suggested by the City Commission
FISCAL EFFECTS: This progress report has no immediate fiscal effects.
Report compiled on: April 11, 2016
Attached Documents: Resolution
76
77
78
79