05/20/1992 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e the council's April 29 discussion regarding the City's current compensation market position, steps the City is taking to contain benefit costs, and recommendations made in the Coopers & Lybrand audit and by the Chamber of Commerce Task Force. Mr. Norris said the council's current policy is that "employee compensation be comparable to public and private sector compensation paid in the relevant recruitment area." She said the questions are as follows: Should the City continue to set compensation according to comparable organizations in a relevant recruitment area, what should the City's position be in relation to the market data (currently the City is at plus or minus 5 percent of the mid-point), what data should be use to determine cost of living changes (the consumer price index or cost of labor), should the City attempt to collect additional survey data from local public and private sector employers, and should the City continue to collect survey data at the current frequency of every other year for non-union positions and prior to negotiations for union positions. e Ms. Norris said that 26.4 percent of the City's total personnel cost is fringe benefits. She said the total salary cost in the calculation includes regular, seasonal temporary help, interns, and overtime wages. She also explained that not everyone who works for the City gets a full benefit package. Mr. Boles asked for an estimate of the number of employees that fall into each of the categories, including proportionate compensation. Mr. Gleason said about 80 percent are full time, regular employees. With regard to the Cost of Labor (COl) versus the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Ms. Norris said the Local Government Personnel Institute said all Oregon arbitrators use the CPl. She also noted that Coopers & Lybrand agreed that in union environments, the CPI is what is used; while non-union environments tend to use the COL. Ms. Norris said staff recommends using more local survey comparisons, using criteria developed from the council's previous discussion. This means recruiting from the geographical area where the City can get a sufficient number of qualified applicants, and also where it can get applicants who provide the ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity the City seeks. Ms. Norris said the communities used for these comparisons would be those that are economically similar enough to the Eugene area to provide relevant compensation data. She recommended organizational criteria be established, such as that employers have a size and structure that is relevant to the City's, provide similar services, have a formal personnel system, and employ at least 40 of the positions for which the City surveys. There was a brief discussion about whether the percentage of benefits costs relative to the total wages paid should include the wages of those who do not receive benefits. Mr. Boles pointed out that the City's formula deflated the percentage. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council 11:30 a.m. May 20, 1992 Page 7