TCRP Report 127 Employee Compensation Guidelines for Transit Providers in Rural and Small Urban Areas

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TCRP Report 127 Employee Compensation
Guidelines for Transit Providers in Rural and
Small Urban Areas

• Sue Knapp
• KFH Group, Incorporated
• Bethesda, Maryland

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Study Purpose

• Develop guidelines for rural and small urban
  transit compensation decisions
• Compensation salary levels and benefits
• Attracting and Retaining Quality Employees

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Audience and Uses

• Audiences
• Local Transit Agencies
• Transit Boards
• Local Elected Officials
• Uses
• Make Decisions on Wages (salary levels and
  process)
• Make Decisions on Benefits (offered and
  subsidized)
• Resource for Attracting and Retaining Employees

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• Definition of Compensation

• Wages/Salaries
• Base wages
• Overtime or compensatory time
• Benefits
• Paid leave
• Insurances
• Pension
• Education/tuition reimbursements
• Wellness programs

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Guidebook and Tool

• Part 1 Compensation Guidelines Salaries and
  Benefits
• Wages and Benefit Data
• Guide for Making Compensation Decisions
• Computer Tool
• Part 2 - Recruitment and Retention Strategies

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Compensation Data

• Compensation Data (2007)
• 360 Transit Systems from 45 States
• Cross section of operators
• Service area
• Transit system size
• Funding
• Organizational characteristics
• Types of services operated

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Compensation Data

• Systems in the Database
• 82 are S.5311 recipients 22 receive S. 5307
  for small urban areas
• About 50 have an urbanized area within their
  primary service area
• Most have a mix of fixed route, demand responsive
  and subscription service
• Most have full time and part time employees
• 82 provide overtime pay (time and a half)
  average 6.2 wages
• 80 do not have unions

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Compensation

• What affects compensation?
• Proximity to Urban Areas
• Service Area Size
• Region of the Country
• System Size
• Organization Type
• Service Type
• Employee Characteristics
• Unemployment Rates

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Compensation

• How?
• Proximity to Urban Areas
• Systems serving urbanized areas have higher wages
  and slightly higher benefits
• S. 5307 systems offer significantly better
  benefits
• Service Area Size
• Systems serving larger areas have lower wages and
  lower benefits
• Region of the Country
• Significant regional differences
• System Size
• Systems with more employees have higher wages and
  better employee benefits but higher turnover
  rates
• Larger systems tend to have fewer part time
  staff, more CDL drivers, serve urban areas, have
  unions and few, if any volunteers

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Compensation

• How?
• Organization Type
• Governmental units have higher pay and better
  benefits than private-non-profits
• Service Type
• Fixed route systems have higher wages and better
  benefits than demand responsive systems
• Employee Characteristics
• Unionized employees have higher pay and better
  benefits
• Systems with more full time employees have higher
  wages and better benefits
• Systems that use volunteers have lower wages and
  benefits
• Systems with staff shortages do not pay lower
  wages or lower unemployment rates

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Processes for Setting Wages/Benefits

• Determining General Wage Ranges
• Informal Surveys of Market Conditions
• Formal Salary and Benefit Studies
• Setting Wages and Benefits
• County Commissioners/Boards of Director
• Negotiation with Unions
• Contractor

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Processes for Setting Wages/Benefits

• Determining Raises
• Annual Review
• Periodic Step Increases
• Bonuses for High Performance
• Raises for Improving Skills
• COLAs
• What Influences Raises
• Health of organization
• Local labor markets
• Collective bargaining agreements
• Individual employee performance

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Wages

• Administrative Staff (annual)
• Director 48K 14K - 105K
• Admin Assist 28K 12K - 55K
• Planner 36K 15K - 83K
• Bookkeeper 30K 12K - 67K
• Marketing Specialist 37K 17K - 58K
• Computer Operator 38K 18K - 50K
• Safety/Training Mgr. 34K 12K - 56K
• Trainer 31K 16K - 54K
• Rideshare Coordin. 30K 19K - 56K

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Wages

• Operating Staff (per hour)
• Clerk 11.20 6.12 19.45
• Ops Supervisor 17.70 7.25 - 32.81
• Street Supervisor 16.48 10.29 26.80
• Scheduler 11.59 6.50 24.93
• Dispatcher 11.62 6.50 - 20.25
• Maintenance Mgr 18.65 7.50 - 33.39
• Mechanic 15.94 9.90 - 23.58
• Maintenance Clerk 13.37 6.68 - 21.15
• Mechanic Assistant 11.73 6.83 - 17.62
• Maint.Utility Worker 11.63 5.85 - 18.07
• Bus DriverCDL 11.19 5.85 20.00
• Bus Drivernon CDL 8.96 5.85 16.18

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Wage Tables in Report 127
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Employee Benefits

• Insurances
• Health employees 88
• Health family 63
• Disability 52
• Life 73
• Retirement Plan 78
• Time
• Vacation 95
• Sick Leave 89
• Compensatory Time 48
• Educational Opportunities 41
• Wellness Program 27
• Generally provided on full time employees only

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Wages/Benefits Relative to Market

• 68 feel wages are about or above average for
  labor market (14 above and 54 about)
• 84 feel benefits are about or above average for
  labor market (44 above and 40 about)
• 11 average turnover rate
• Of the 43 that have staff shortages, almost all
  are short drivers
• Average unemployment rate was 5.4

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Employee Attraction/Retention

• Transit System as Employer
• Strive to be Employer of Choice
• Proactive rather than reactive
• Prove youre a good, stable employer
• Have an HR strategy even if no HR department
• Stages of the Employment Cycle Integrating
• Recruiting
• Hiring
• Training and Development
• Retaining
• Exit Interviews

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Assessing Needs

• Assess needs
• Job Development
• Job descriptions/skills
• Qualifications/requirements
• Compensation package

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Recruiting

• Tailor to job requirements
• Common methods
• Newspaper ads
• Internet ads
• Employee/personal referrals
• On-vehicle recruiting
• Job fairs/newsletters
• Useful hints
• Keep a log of what gets responses
• Employment agencies
• Local community colleges
• Internships or apprenticeships
• Workforce development programs

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Hiring

• Pre-employment Screening
• Skills
• Drug/alcohol
• Personality tests
• Background checks
• Physicals
• Developing the Interview
• Interviewing
• Making an Offer

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Training

• Initial Training
• Language Training
• Probationary Period
• Re-training

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Retaining

• Compensation
• Performance Reviews
• Promotional Opportunities
• Recognition
• Personal and Professional Development
• On-going training
• Cross training
• Professional certificates
• Peer mentoring

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Retaining

• Employee buy in or Ownership
• Work Environment
• Open communications
• Management interaction
• Established policies and procedures
• Safety focus

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Successful Retention Strategies

• Extra days off for safe work environment
• Sick leave donations
• Retention bonus
• Personal leave instead of vacation and sick leave
• Flexible off-time for PT workers allow PT
  workers to take off whenever they request
• Subsidized college-level classes

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Completing the Cycle

• Exit Interviews
• Organizational Health Assessments

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Computer Tool

• Computer-based tool on compensation user
  friendly and menu driven
• User inputs system and service area
  characteristics
• Tool Outputs
• Wage ranges similar systems and/or similar labor
  markets
• Benefits offered/subsidized in similar systems

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Computer Tool -Input Screen
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Computer Tool-Output Screen
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Computer Tool-Output Screen