Category: Local Government Projects

Evergreen Solutions was retained by Grand County to conduct a compensation study.  Evergreen performed the following tasks: reviewed current personnel practices and policies that impacted pay and performance; reviewed legal provisions and requirements, including statutory requirements that might have impacted the study; conferred with the County Manager, Elected Officials, Department Heads and Human Resources Director in order to review input regarding their views of compensation problems and needs, and identified specific areas of concern; reviewed County jobs in order to prepare an appropriate pay survey and fringe benefit questionnaire; prepared a survey tool that sought entry level, mid-point and maximum pay for each key class included; performed analysis of pay and benefit data provided by peer organizations; prepared recommended pay grade and range schedules and assignments to pay grades for each class of work; determined appropriate internal relationships of the classes based upon classification factors; and developed a salary schedule or schedules that met the needs of the County’s compensation program and related to the County’s labor market.

Evergreen Solutions is again engaged with Gaston County to conduct a Comprehensive Position Classification and Compensation Study for its more than 1500 employees. The desired objective of the study is for the County to implement a fair, consistent, competitive, equitable, and legally defensible Classification and Compensation system that allows the County to attract, reward and retain qualified individuals. 

Evergreen will perform a comprehensive review of the County’s classification and compensation system by conducting an internal equity analysis of employee salaries as well as a survey and review of current compensation and benefit policies and practices of entities of similar size of local public and private employers within Gaston County, the state of North Carolina and within the southeastern region of the United States.

From the comparative data gained through the pay survey and the comparative rankings of the classification of positions, Evergreen will assign a pay range to each classification of positions, resulting in a pay plan which is comparable, equitable and competitive with the salaries paid in the above stated labor market.

Evergreen Solutions was again hired by the City of Pearland to conduct a Compensation and Classification Study.  The study included the review of the existing classification plan, position descriptions and methods of reclassification, the performance of a salary study and the preparation of pay plan schedules, job descriptions, etc.  The purpose of the comprehensive compensation and classification study was to develop a clear, equitable, consistent and competitive classification and compensation structure that fostered retention of qualified individuals while providing opportunities for growth and development within and provided the Human Resources Department a framework to operate within to maintain the system.

Evergreen Solutions was engaged with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a Staffing Study.  Evergreen performed the following: collected current Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other outcome-related data; developed and issued benchmarking survey to collect level, staffing, and KPI results from relevant peer organizations; developed a peer staffing matrix based on KPI and/or outcome measure variation that includes the excepted staffing range by job level; utilized comparison data from benchmark survey peers in the peer staffing matrix to assess organizational structure and staffing levels; identify jobs by level that fell outside of the estimated staffing thresholds; developed staffing model based on current strategic needs, comparison of KPI results, and peer thresholds; provided recommended staffing levels for future years, using data from County on population growth projections; provided recommendations for future staffing needs of the LCSO; created a matrix that identifies all gaps between the current and desired staffing by level and functional area of the LCSO; estimated the overall resource and cost savings for each change or gap based on the current and proposed staffing model; and submitted a final report that summarized results and linked recommendations and outcomes from the study.

Evergreen Solutions was retained by Laurens County to conduct a comprehensive wage study and analysis for regular and part-time positions.  The goals of the study were to: ensure fair and equitable relationships within the organization; recommend and identify a consistent and competitive market position that the County can strive to maintain; remain cognizant of trends in wage or compensation inequality; and apply goals organization-wide, professionally, consistently and objectively.

Evergreen Solutions was again hired by the City of Fort Myers to conduct a Staffing Study of the Police Department. Evergreen performed the following tasks: developed a project plan summarizing tasks, milestones, and deliverables; conducted five interviews and four focus groups with various department stakeholders; reviewed current pay distribution of all ranks and identified pay challenges (i.e. compression, high volume of employees maxed out, etc.); analyzed current turnover trends by rank or level; explored development of additional ranks in the career structure to align with peers and best practices; amended and updated current career development plan (CDP), including what was needed for promotion, and the pay increases of promotion; provided recommendations on patrol shift make-up to align with recommended rank structure changes; and created a new compensation plan to align with recommended CDP, including one step approach and one alternative approach (hybrid or open).

Evergreen Solutions was engaged with the City of Ridgefield to conduct a Classification and Compensation Study. The City desired to maintain an internally and externally equitable, yet market competitive, classification and compensation plan. The City strived to competitively recruit and retain employees who provided the best service to the community. The City had not conducted an in-depth review of the classification and compensation structure since 2015-16 and since that time had grown from 37 to 52 FTE’s, including seven (7) new classifications.

Evergreen Solutions was engaged with Effingham County to conduct a Classification and Compensation Study and Analysis. The objectives of the study were to: attract and retain qualified employees; ensure positions performing similar work with essentially the same level of complexity, responsibility, and knowledge, skills, and abilities are classified together; provide salaries commensurate with assigned duties; outline promotional opportunities and provide recognizable compensation growth; provide justifiable pay differential between individual classes; and maintain a competitive position with other comparable government entities and private employers within the same geographic areas.

Evergreen Solutions is retained by the City of Hendersonville to conduct a Classification and Compensation Study. The study will include the review of the existing classification plan, position descriptions and methods of reclassification, the performance of a salary study and the preparation of pay plan schedules, job descriptions.

Evergreen Solutions was engaged with the Town of Carolina Beach to conduct a management, organizational structure, and efficiency study. The objective of this study was to review all Town Departments, current management structure, staffing, and current/future staff workloads and to make recommendations regarding the most effective and efficient management and organizational structure and staffing to meet the service levels expected by elected officials, Town residents, business owners, and visitors. The study was performed in conformance with the following directives: review current and past organizational structures and staffing levels; review and summarize current services provided and staff workloads for all departments (winter and summer); determine what is working well with the Town’s organizational structure and staffing levels and determine the areas that may need improvement; compare and contrast the Town’s organizational structure, services, and staffing levels with other similar sized cities in North Carolina and other industry staffing standards, if available; review current and future Town services and workloads to determine the most effective and efficient management and organizational structure to meet the demands and expectations of elected officials, Town residents, business owners, and visitors; review current and future Town tax structure to other towns of similar size and makeup; determine a method of assessing the health of the organization’s culture, internal relationships, and attitudes toward the workplace. As a result of the assessment, Evergreen determined effective measures to improve those areas that need addressing; determined cost saving measures that could be implemented that would allow similar or increased levels of service and that would improve overall efficiency; and identified performance measures that would result in assessing the effectiveness of those recommendations that were to be implemented.