RD416 - Initial Recommendations and Findings of the State Employee Compensation Review Work-Group to the General Assembly per Item 255.B.3., 2012-2014 Appropriation Act (Chapter 806) - December 13, 2013


Executive Summary:
As recommended in Governor Robert McDonnell’s Communication to the General Assembly (the Introduced Budget Bill) submitted on December 17, 2012, the General Assembly enacted Item 255.B. of the (2012-2014 “Appropriation Act”), Chapter 806 of the 2013 Virginia Acts of Assembly, to establish a work-group to conduct a comprehensive review of compensation for state employees. Item 255.B. charged the Secretaries of Finance and Administration to “convene a work-group comprised of representatives from the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees, the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, the Department of Human Resource Management, the Department of Planning and Budget and such other state employees as may seem appropriate.” The broad theme of the state employee study is intended to “address compression, recruitment, retention, hiring practices, and strategies to minimize future compensation disparities.” The language further specifies that the work-group’s priorities shall include a review of compensation for public safety related personnel and deputy clerks in the district courts. Finally, Item 255.B. requires the work-group to submit an interim report of initial recommendations and findings with the study to be completed by June 30, 2014.

The members of the work-group who participated in the study and interim report finding during the summer and fall of 2013 are as follows:

Secretary of Finance Richard D. Brown
Secretary of Administration Lisa Hicks-Thomas
Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia Karl R. Hade
Senate Finance Committee Staff Legislative Analyst Jason Powell
House Appropriations Committee Staff Legislative Fiscal Analyst Michael R. Jay
Deputy Secretary of Finance R. Neil Miller

Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM):

• Sara R. Wilson, Director
• Rue Collins White, Director, Agency Human Resource Services
• Pamela J. Watson, Human Resource Management Sr. Consultant
• Carol Rauschberg, Consultant for Public Safety and Natural Resource Agencies

Department of Planning and Budget (DPB):

• Daniel S. Timberlake, Director
• Jonathan D. Howe, Associate Director for Budget Operations
• Brian K. Logwood, Associate Director for General Government
• Banci E. Tewolde, Associate Director for Public Safety

This interim report of initial recommendations and findings focuses on state employee role titles with high turnover rates that experience difficulty in recruitment and retention. As part of the initial findings, the work-group identified 16 distressed state employee role titles along with three grades of District Court Deputy Clerks in need of additional state support. Further, this report identifies a number of areas in which essential statewide information is necessary to better address total state employee compensation. For example, a centralized state employee exit survey and additional analytic tools and comparative industry data for DHRM will assist with future compensation strategies. Lastly, the work-group collectively agreed that making the prior JLARC Total State Compensation Studies a regular quinquennial review would inform legislators and the Governor on strategic and long-term compensation plans for state employees.