Thurston County looks into updating employees’ wage classifications

The Thurston Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved on Tuesday a professional services contract with The Segal Company Inc. to conduct a comprehensive classification and compensation study.

Human Resources (HR) Director Maria Aponte said the partner company would distribute position-description questionnaires that employees fill out individually. Supervisors would then review the forms. Segal, a national HR consulting firm,would mediate in case of disputes.

"The advantage of that is sometimes people think that HR is biased, so having a third party removes that skepticism," Aponte explained.

The BOCC approved the contract for $170,000  andauthorizedAponte to execute any amendments in the agreement that do not exceed 10%.

Aponte said Segal would conduct a market study using updated classification on wage changes and would compare and look at the current pay practices of the county's contemporary offices and organizations.

Segal will present the results of their study and their recommendation to the county's staff and concerned labor organizations. The implementation of their proposals would still be under the Board's approval.

Major bargaining agreements with some labor groups will expire towards the end of the year, Aponte said, just in time with the expected presentation of the study's result and recommendation.

Aponte said an updated wage classification would help the HR department recruit and retain talented staff.

"I know from speaking to employees that this is an issue of great interest," Commissioner Tye Menser said in his motion of approval. "I think that it's overdue, and I'm glad that we will be able to get this process moving forward."