Section 2.l-114.6 of the Virginia Personnel Act provides in part that: "It is the goal of the Commonwealth that its employees be compensated at a rate comparable to the rate of compensation for employees in the private sector of the Commonwealth in similar occupations. In determining comparability, consideration shall be given to the economic value of fringe benefits in addition to direct compensation." In accordance with this section the Department of Personnel and Training has conducted its annual compensation review, the results of which are attached.

The survey consists of data collected from sixty-three participants representing private industry, hospitals, local governments in Virginia, and State governments in the United States. The data is presented as percentage deviations from the minimum and !D3Ximum State salaries for comparable classes utilized by participants. For example, a figure of -4.6/-4.7 indicates that the State salary range should be increased 4.6% at the minimum and 4.7% at the maximum in order to be equal to the average salary paid by the participants for that particular occupational group. The various attachments show the specific salary.data obtained and the columns headed 'Participant Average' and 'State Average' are the averages for salaries within the grouping of classes to the left of these figures.

A summary sheet (Attachment 1) indicates the overall percentage deviations between the major groups of participants and the Commonwealth. Additional attachments detail the classes surveyed and the reported salaries for each participant. Further, a separate sheet (Attachment 9) indicates the comparison of the Commonwealth's ranges with participants in the Northern Virginia area. Because the Commonwealth pays a salary differential in thls area, it was felt to be appropriate to handle this data separately. Also, because the data from the College Placement Council and the American Management Association was nationwide in its scope and only focused on the hiring or minimum salary, it was not included in the total-column of Attachment 1. A complete list of survey participants is included in Attachment 10.

The survey was expanded this year to include data relevent to the fringe benefit packages offered to employees by the survey participants. This data is shown as Attachment 8 and indicates that the Commonwealth's benefit program is competitive on most counts with those surveyed. Virginia's vacation, sick leave, holiday schedule, and medical plan all compare reasonably well with the most common practices of the survey participants. Many participants, however, had vacation schedules that continued to award increased days off for service beyond ten years and almost 20% of the participants had a no-cost dental care plan for employees. In the area of Life Insurance and Retirement plans, the major difference between the Commonwealth and the participants was in the manner the programs are funded. Thirty-eight (38%) percent of the participants provided no-cost Life Insurance plans and seventy-four percent (74%) provided no-cost Retirement plans.

Several factors are important to consider in analyzing the survey data. First, each of the participant groups (Statewide business firms, CSC data, etc.) was given an equal weight in the computation of the total percentage deviation. This fact is relevant, for example, if one's view is that the Commonwealth should be more competitive with other states. If this were true, then one would want to give more weight to the CSC data. Again this year, due to the timetable under which our survey must be conducted, many participants indicated that they were in the process of or shortly planning to begin a process which would result in a revision of their salary structures. Because their plans had not been finalized we were forced to use data currently in effect. This important fact should not be overlooked when reviewing the percentage deviations in Attachment 1.