Tool for Pay Grade set-up?

YCCACHR

I'm a fairly new HR person, and have been asked by my Director to review our pay grades (which are in dire need of help!) Recently, we added a new program here at our agency, which also created several new positions that we have not yet placed on our pay grades. Is there some type of tool out there that can help determine where to place these folks on our scales? Also - for those who are currently using some type of scale/grade - do all new hires start at the same rate of pay (or the bottom of the pay scale) or do you base your starting pay upon experience? Thanks for any help.

Dutch2

I would think that you would have to pay for experience. Every two or three years we contact several of the other financial insitutions and organizatons in our part of the world to see just what the going rates are. IF necessary we also bring in an outside firm to verify if we believe we are out of line. The State DOL can also supply some of this information.
We did contract with a company about 6 years ago that came in with a set formula to determine grade levels and a salary ranges for each grade. They had about 20-24 different categories that we determined for every position to set the grade levels. We have used a version of this system ever since with very good results. However this company specialized in banks.
Good luck...

Cheryl S SPHR

Dutch2,

I'm in banking as well. I'm curious what company you used that specialized in banks -- would you mind sharing the name and contact information?

Thanks,

Cheryl

atrimble

At CHA, by practice, new hires start at the bottom of the pay scale for that position. The exceptions are: transfers internally who are already earning more than the base for the new position, or new employees who bring experience in that specific position. Our industry (government - housing) is quite a niche, so if we bring in a housing manager from another housing authority/agency, we're going to recognize the experience. However, there are very few people out there who have ever been a public housing manager. It's tough to set pay scales on our "clerical" staff. For our maintenance staff, you start at the bottom and work hard to prove you deserve more than the base. We classify most of our more common positions based on the employee's experience. So the second level maintenance person has journeyman-level experience or training, versus entry-level grounds crew, or third- or fourth- level people who have expert level experience plus supervisory capabilities.

Hmm - just got off on a tangent - sorry about that.

I'd recommend assigning new positions at least temporarily to some pay scale. If you're already paying someone to perform the job, stick 'em in the pay scale that matches the rate of pay. If you don't assign for a while, I can imagine the employees insisting on huge raises before the salary survey gets completed, and they'll provide their own "evidence" of what they think they deserve.