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Cook County administrator James Joerke told county commissioners that based on the compensation study the county “needs to shift the pay scale up” for county employees.
Earlier in the year the county hired David Drown Associates Human Resources (DDAHR) to conduct a market analysis and pay grid calibration for county employees.
Joerke was addressing the board on Tuesday, October 26, 2022.
The study was based on comparable wages paid by 20 other counties. Joerke said that “Unaspiringly” Cook County was paying lower than comparable counties for the same/similar jobs.
The county is at a benchmark of 84 percent of market value for most employees and a benchmark of 80 percent of market for its top employees, Joerke said.
Some ways of implementing the study are to expand the current pay grades. Upper management has nine pay grades while lower salaried workers have seven. Last year the county began hiring people at higher paygrades (steps) so these workers could get to the top step sooner. However, Joerke noted that this can be a disincentive because once someone reaches the top of their pay scale—even with cost-of-living adjustments they start looking around for better paying jobs.
Joerke said he is working on scenarios to implement the study, including its affects on future levies.
One of the problems Cook County has had is retaining workers. “It’s enormously expensive to hire and train new people,” Joerke told commissioners. Retaining people in a contentious job market is a goal of the county, he added.
Working with the consultants is a committee comprised of employees representing county department heads, supervisors, commissioners, and bargaining units that was formed to select other counties to use in a comparable study to Cook County.
Out of Minnesota’s 87 counties the group winnowed the list to 53, then 26, and finally 20 counties. The group tried to find similarities between the counties, although on the surface Hennepin County wouldn’t seem to have much in common with Cook County. However, when the group looked closely at Hennepin County there was enough comparable to put it in the mix.
The working committee selected benchmark communities to use for market analysis. These include Lake of the Woods County, Scott County, Olmsted
County, Ramsey County, Washington County, Hennepin County, Beltrami County, Cass County, Lake County, Goodhue County, Sherburne County, Dakota County, Anoka County, Becker County, Carver County, Ottertail County, Freeborn County, Aitkin County, Crow Wind County, and St. Louis County.
The working group used five factors in picking comparable counties. Those factors are medium home value, medium household income, expenditures to population, rental rates and hospitably tax.
More work needs to be done, said Joerke, who added he will be coming back to the board with updates in the near future.
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