Title
Chief Administrative Office recommending the Board adopt and authorize the Chair to sign Resolution 037-2017 revising the salary for the position of Director of Human Resources, reducing the maximum salary from $173,971.20 to $164,570, effective upon the appointment of a permanent Director of Human Resources.
FUNDING: General Fund.
Body
DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION
Chief Administrative Office recommending the Board adopt Resolution 037-2017 revising the salary for the position of Director of Human Resources, reducing the maximum salary from $173,971.20 to $164,570, effective upon the appointment of a permanent Director of Human Resources.
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
On July 30, 2013, the Board approved a recommendation from the Chief Administrative Officer to increase the maximum salary of the Director of Human Resources from $125,300 to $157,809.60. Due to negotiated cost of living and salary increases, the maximum salary has increased to the current amount $173,971.20.
In the July 30, 2013 staff report, the Chief Administrative Office stated “….this salary increase was necessary due to the historically high turnover rate and the two recent failed recruitments for the position of Director of Human Resources.” Although there is a long history of turnover in this position, the Interim Director of Human Resources and her staff are unable to locate any documentation of two failed recruitments prior to the hiring of the last permanent Director of Human Resources in September 2013, and to their recollection the most recent prior recruitment for a Director of Human Resources was conducted around 2009. In addition, the Interim Director of Human Resources is unable to locate any salary comparisons that were used to determine the July 2013 recommended salary amount totaling $157,809.60.
Based on salary comparisons provided by Koff and Associates, the current maximum salary for the Director of Human Resources is 2.6% less than the comparable position in Placer County, and 0.4% less than the comparable position in Sacramento County. It should be noted that the Placer County Human Resources Department includes 50 Full Time Equivalent positions (FTEs), and Sacramento County includes 205 FTEs, while El Dorado County’s Human Resources Division includes 17 FTEs. In addition, the El Dorado County Director of Human Resources salary is 11% higher than the mean of the twelve comparator counties, and 9.8% higher than the median salary of $158,508.
In addition, the current maximum salary of the Human Resources Director is higher than the maximum salaries of the Chief Probation Officer (9.5%), Director of Information Technology (13.4%), and Director of Child Support Services (13.7%), all of which supervise a higher number of positions and have a similar scope of responsibility. If the current recommendation is approved, the new salary will continue to be higher than each of these positions, but with a much closer distribution. (Probation: 3.6%; Information Technology: 7.3%; and Child Support: 7.5%).
If this recommendation is approved, it will be 5% higher than the mean salary of the twelve comparator counties, 7.8% lower than Placer County, and 5.8% lower than Sacramento County. The new salary will also be higher than similarly sized counties such as Butte and Shasta counties, and also higher than a comparable level position at the State of California.
Based on this information, and understanding at this time that we do not have a completed compensation study that would allow the County to implement a consistent compensation policy, the Chief Administrative Office feels the fiscally prudent approach, with the need to begin establishing some consistency with other comparable department heads and other comparable counties, is to approve the recommendation to reduce the current salary of the Director of Human Resources position. A recruitment will be initiated immediately advertising the new salary. If the recruitment fails at this new compensation amount, the Chief Administrative Office will return to the Board with additional options for consideration.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board could choose to take no action, leaving the salary at $173,971, or direct staff to return to the Board with a different salary recommendation.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Human Resources
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this recommendation will result in an annual cost savings totaling approximately $9,400/year, comparing the maximum salary amount.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
Execute the approved Resolution
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance: This recommendation establishes a consistent and thoroughly analyzed approach to determining recommended salary/compensation based on the information available at this time.
CONTACT
Don Ashton, Chief Administrative Officer