Commissioners want fixes to Sedgwick County’s retention problems

Sedgwick County government is having trouble retaining and attracting employees.

Officials say benefits and pay below the market average are at the root of the issue.

County commissioners and staff reviewed the compensation policies that affect more than 2,600 public employees Wednesday in a workshop.

“It’s important that we are competitive so that we can be effective in our recruiting and we can get good candidates,” said Eileen McNichol, county human resources director. “It will help contribute to a reduction in our turnover.”

By the numbers

McNichol presented on the county’s compensation history and challenges:

▪ Evergreen Solutions conducted a survey of county pay plans in 2013 and 2014. It found that average minimum pay plans for employees were 4.5 percent below the market. Maximum pay plans were 8.8 percent below the market.

▪ Detention deputies, case managers and corrections workers received pay upgrades of more than 10 percent after the Evergreen study. But those three positions still registered the most common departures in 2014 and 2015.

▪ Commissioner Karl Peterjohn asked if the Evergreen review worked. Assistant County Manager Ron Holt said it did, but it “didn’t fix the total problem.” That’s because the county increased the minimum pay grade by 3.35 percent, half of what the study recommended, he said.

▪ 61 percent of positions filled in the second half of 2015 took more than 30 days to fill.

▪ 54 percent of employees who left the county in 2015 worked there less than two years.

▪ Sedgwick County’s voluntary turnover rate was 14.4 percent in 2015, compared with 8.7 percent in Johnson County.

▪ McNichol said the county struggles with filling “higher skilled jobs” in the legal, technology, human resources and mental health fields.

▪ According to exit interviews in 2015, pay was the main reason employees left.

Commission takes

Chairman Jim Howell said the county could get “the biggest bang for the buck” by looking into things like more flexible schedules, health savings accounts and tuition reimbursements to attract job candidates.

“I want to have a competitive environment for county employees where they can feel like they can contribute to their community by working for Sedgwick County but also have a career,” Peterjohn said.

“If we really believe in an organization that’s heavily weighted with employees and payroll, which is a huge part of our budgeting process, there’s got to be an investment or you’re going to continue to see numbers like this for a long time,” commissioner Tim Norton added.

What’s next

County Manager Michael Scholes said the staff will present proposed changes on compensation at a meeting probably in the next month.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Commissioners want fixes to Sedgwick County’s retention problems."