Leader Staff
Shawano County officials are hoping a wage study being conducted here will get a better reception than a similar study did in Oconto County.
The Oconto County study was done by Madison-based Carlson-Dettmann Consulting LLC, which the Shawano County Board of Supervisors voted 25-1 last month to do a wage and job classification study here at a cost of $42,000.
Though Oconto County officials expected some dissatisfaction, administrators estimated perhaps 10 percent of the county’s 250 employees would appeal the new pay scale adopted in November.
Instead, 73 employees are taking part in the appeal process that gets under way this week.
Under the plan, compensation increased from 0 to 8 percent. No employees had their wages cut; the few determined to be overcompensated had their pay frozen.
Shawano County Administrative Coordinator Tom Madsen said it’s still too early to tell how the local study will shake out or what recommendations will be made.
“We’re in the very early stages of this,” he said.
Madsen said Carlson-Dettmann is also involving employees in the process.
“They’ve had meetings with the employees and those meetings were well-attended,” he said. “They had a representative here for two days meeting with staff all over the county.”
Employees are currently filling out questionnaires about their jobs and job duties and Carlson-Dettmann will be back for another round of interviews, Madsen said. The study is expected to be wrapped up and in front of the County Board in March.
The first round of appeals for Oconto County employees is scheduled to be discussed Friday and Monday between department heads and Carlson-Dettmann representatives. The firm performed an employee classification/compensation study for a fee of $55,000 and recommended the pay scale approved by supervisors.
The county’s Personnel and Wages Committee is scheduled to review Carlson-Dettmann’s recommendations on Feb. 6 and hold a second round of appeals on Feb. 7 and 13. Any changes to the pay plan will require approval from the committee and the County Board, which is scheduled to review the committee’s recommendations on March 20.
According to Oconto County Administrative Coordinator Kevin Hamann, whatever appeals are granted will take effect with the March 23 pay period; no retroactive pay will be given.
Oconto County officials set aside $250,000 in the 2014 budget to cover the wage increases resulting from the study. Employee compensation increased about 30 percent in 2014 for a total of about $235,000 — an additional $178,000 for wages and $57,000 for fringe benefits.