From: ____________, Personnel Consultant to Roberta Dickenson
To: Roberta Dickenson, Head of the Division of Water Resources
Subject: Action Memorandum Regarding Merit Pay Increases
Date: January 24, 2012
Recommended Action
Following past mismanagement and lower than expected staff productivity, the employee chosen to receive this year’s annual merit award at the Division of Water Resources will influence employee attitudes, productivity, and reflect the priorities of the new management. Select Leslie Malina as the employee to receive the merit award and explain the decision and the financial constraints in a staff meeting. This will affirm to staff members that their suggestions are important, reduce post-merit-award depression, and reward Leslie for exemplary performance.
Issues
Previous management at the Water Planning Division of the County of Santa Clara Rose, California, has been faulted for passivity and inconsistency, and as a result staff members in the division do not have a lot of personal loyalty to their work. In attempts to rectify the situation, new management was introduced under the directive to raise the level of productivity in the division as well as better the quality of water resources in the county. It is now time to determine the annual merit raises under the county’s personnel system. Previously, the merit raises negatively affected staff members, leaving them depressed after the merit increases were awarded. Reinforce staff’s evaluation rankings by selecting Leslie Malina for the merit increase and then hold a staff meeting to discuss the final selection. It is vital that the merit criteria and proceeding nominations developed in the staff meeting be followed so that in the future employees can place trust in management decisions and the criteria itself, giving every employee clear ideas on how to improve. Inquire into the lack of financial resources in the revised budget at the merit pay meeting with the County. While some employees may be disappointed that only one merit increase is awarded this year, most will accept the reason for the lack of money, and will appreciate any inquiry into the financial constraints.
Involving staff in the process of making the merit pay recommendation was appropriate. Previously, staff members that did not receive the merit pay increases felt depressed since they lacked affirmation and failed to understand where their work could be improved. The process of establishing the merit pay criteria brought about two important criteria: First, the staff was able to clearly understand why some employees were eligible for the merit increase and why some were not. Guidelines were set for each employee to measure his or her own performance. Second, because every employee helped create the criteria, they necessarily agreed with the resultant measures. If the employees agree with the guidelines and believe them to be beneficial for the office, then more employees are likely to follow them.
Provide more opportunities for discussions with employees about their work. The mid-year feedback sessions with each of the employees were favorably received, and each employee left the meeting with a clear focus. However, six months is too long to sustain that focus and motivation. Establish meetings in between the bi-annual performance reviews but encourage the employees to do all the talking. The focus of these intermittent meetings should not be performance reviews, but a chance for the employee to relate the work load, successes, and problems that have been encountered since the last meeting.
Leslie Malina should be chosen for the merit pay increase. Apart from the fact that Leslie clearly deserves to be recognized for her hard work and good results for water quality, based on the staff evaluations she was also the highest ranked employee for a merit increase. Affirming the staff rankings will give the employees confidence that their opinions matter, demonstrate that management is prepared to follow the set guidelines, and create a clear framework for each employee to measure his or her own performance, enabling staff to improve in the future.
The decision to elect Leslie for the merit pay increase should be explained through a staff meeting. First, clarify the decision to choose Leslie by stating that under the revised budget only one employee could receive the award. Stress that, based on the criteria developed in group discussion and the proceeding vote, Leslie was the top candidate to receive a pay merit increase, then congratulate the staff on their efforts to create the merit pay criteria and subsequent nominations.
Options
Award Barney Vance, Dave Davis, and Eric Hansen, the three employees ranked directly below Leslie, an additional vacation day to their annual vacation package in addition to awarding Leslie the merit increase. This will be a good alternative to reward those employees who deserve a merit increase despite the budget constraints, however, there is the possibility that this new reward system will get out of hand. If budget constraints continue to affect merit awards in the future, more and more employees will expect to be compensated with additional vacation days, eventually leading to work load problems in the office.
Address the revised budget and change in merit increases in the meeting with Jim Krabel. Explain that just two days ago around three people were likely to receive a merit increase. Based on this information, staff expectations at the Water Planning Division were already set, and it would diminish the existing leadership authority at the Division if management couldn’t be trusted to carry through. This could increase the number of merit awards given and build respect and trust from the staff, however, the action may also offend Jim Krabel. Additionally, failure to succeed in increasing the number of awards will result in little progress for the decision at hand. Thus, this option must necessarily be followed by a backup plan.
Implementation
Nominate Leslie Malina for the merit award during the merit pay meeting with the County and inquire about the financial constraints in this year’s revised budget. Within the next week send out an interoffice memo setting a meeting time with the staff to explain the limitations on this year’s merit award and the decision to choose Leslie in accordance with staff’s nominations. Congratulate the staff on their efforts to develop clear criteria for the merit increases. In the next three months provide opportunities for staff to offer revisions to the established criteria. Over the next six months schedule at least two meetings with each employee to talk about the employee’s career progress and contributions to the division’s goals.
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