[NCASG] Question: Has your state ever evaluated the effectiveness of targeted pay differentials?

[Gjerde, Thomas@CalHR]

Good Morning NCASG Members,

A graduate student intern is working on an exciting compensation analysis for the State of California.

To identify best practices in other states, she is asking if your state has ever evaluated the effectiveness of pay differentials for targeted state jobs, and if so, could you share your findings or advice.

Please see Noelle Fa-Kaji's description of her project below, and contact her directly with your questions or resources. Thanks for your help. - Tom Gjerde, CalHR


Noelle's email:
Noelle.Fa-Kaji at dof.ca.gov<mailto:Noelle.Fa-Kaji at dof.ca.gov>

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Hello NCASG members,

I am a graduate student intern with the California Department of Finance, and this summer we are hoping to analyze the effectiveness of our efforts to recruit and retain state workers through pay differentials. We are reaching out to see if any members have conducted a similar analysis.

State Service in California
California has a unified pay scale for employees across the state. As a result, there are sometimes differences in costs of living in different locations, and the pay range may need to be increased in order to be competitive with the private sector; this is one way that pay differentials are used. We also have collective bargaining for rank-and-file state employees. This also contributes to the creation of pay differentials, such as in response to a high turnover rate or an incentive to retain knowledgeable employees in a department.

About California's Pay Differentials
There are over 400 unique pay differentials in California. Categories currently in use are:

*         Bilingual

*         Bonus or Incentive

*         Duties Specific

*         Educational

*         License or Certification

*         Longevity

*         Recruitment and Retention

*         Recruitment and Retention - Facility Based

*         Recruitment and Retention - Geographical

*         Relocation

*         Shift Differential
We are primarily interested in studying pay differentials categorized as for "recruitment and retention" in this project.

About This Project
Our first, general question seeks to find examples of specific pay differentials and their effects on recruiting and retaining state workers. Expanding out from those examples, our second question is to identify characteristics that could make a pay differential more or less effective. This could be specific stipulations like setting a restricted timeframe or making a pay differential conditional on a vacancy rate threshold, or perhaps more broadly job classes that have seen more or less success due to a pay differential. These findings would form the basis of a "best practices" recommendation for new pay differentials.

If this project sounds similar to any analysis conducted in your state, we would love to connect! Either any pointers to reports that may be available or possibly a short meeting would both be helpful.

Thank you for considering.

Best,
Noelle Fa-Kaji
Graduate Student Intern
Department of Finance, California
Noelle.Fa-Kaji at dof.ca.gov<mailto:Noelle.Fa-Kaji at dof.ca.gov>


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