FOLEY — Earlier this month, the Foley City Council approved a new pay-grading system for municipal employees. That change comes in the heels of a salary-survey project conducted by the South Carolina based- Archer Company.

According to City Assistant Administrator/Human Resources Director Sandra Pate, the first survey conducted since 2008 was intended to “determine the competitive worth of each full-time, permanent job at the City for the purpose of establishing an equitable, comparable and competitive pay range for each of the jobs at the city of Foley.” She explained that this was accomplished by submitting questiaires and conducted job evalutations with employees, supervisors and herself and that market wage and salary data was collected, with the result being a new pay-classification plan for the city in which all employees are placed within a specific grade.

The Onlooker recently asked Pate about the new system and its effects on city employees.

Q. How many city employees will be affected by the change?

A: Actually, most all employees will be positively affected in some way, even if their pay was not adjusted. This is because the minimum and maximum of the pay grade ranges in the positions were adjusted to a broader band width which helped ensure competitiveness within the job market. So, what that means is most all employees will have a higher range within their pay grade where they can move up before they become maxed out in their pay grade.

Q: How many will be bumped up to the minimum within their classification?

A: There were a total of 42 employees out of 244 in various positions at the City which required adjusting their pay to bring them up to the minimum in their new pay grade.

Q. How many will move from hourly to salary and which positions or departments will they be?

A: General government, five; engineering, two; community development, four; maintenance, one; street, two; sanitation, one; library, two; fire, three; senior center, one; marketing, one; municipal court, one; recreation, 2; parks, two; police, three —for a total of 30.

Q. How long of a transition period will you all be going through to complete that change?

A: The changes were effective with the Pay Period starting, May 21. Our Payroll Department is working now on making the changes to our payroll system, so employees will see the adjustments on their next paycheck.

Q. Could you tell me a little about the training that will be involved with the transition?

A: I am currently meeting with all city department heads to review their employees and any changes that occurred to their pay or the FLSA status. Department Heads will then meet one on one with their employees to go over the details and answer any questions. Our employees are used to a formal pay structure because we have had one in place since 2004. We met with every employee at the start of this project and described the process to them and answered questions. Our employees were very engaged in the entire process and actually approved their final job description, so the transition has actually been very smooth.