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Orangeville management salaries fall short, says consultant

November 7, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Orangeville’s municipal staff salaries are on the lower end of the competitive range compared to other municipalities.

That’s one of the findings of a salary market review discussed by council during its Nov. 4 meeting.

Marianne Love of ML Consulting conducted the 2024 compensation review for the town’s management and non-unionized positions.

At the end of the review process, it’s recommended that Orangeville continue setting pay rates that are higher than 60 per cent of comparable municipalities. This approach is seen as balanced and forward-looking, considering Orangeville’s size and the changing job market, according to a report prepared for council.

David Smith, the town’s CAO, said fair compensation is the cornerstone in attracting and retaining the town’s most important assets. Those valuable assets are staff members.

Orangeville follows good compensation practices and Smith said staff are assured that the municipality follows those sound practices.

“We want the best, the brightest, and skilled serving our residents,” Smith said. “In our highly competitive market, compensation is an important tool. Meaningful work, safe working conditions, appropriate tools and resources, a sense of community and team, values alignment, growth development opportunities, and support of our elected officials are also important.”

The three key components for consideration in the 2024 review included internal equity, pay equity and a market summary.

Internal equity, the first step in the review process, ensures that all positions are accurately captured by reviewing job descriptions.

“In terms of pay equity, the town is required to comply with pay equity legislation, and a thorough review was conducted to confirm compliance throughout the process,” according to a report prepared for council.

Then a market analysis assessed the town’s competitiveness against municipal comparators. This evaluation addressed issues related to staff attraction and retention, while also guiding the recommendations for a revised competitive pay grid.

“The market summary shows that, overall, the town salaries are lower than the target for competitive pay when compared to other municipalities,” according to the report. “This is not unexpected at the end of a market review cycle.

“Some jobs have a bigger gap, meaning they pay even less than the typical salaries for similar roles.”

Smith said a market salary review is usually carried out once every council term and it is indicative of a financially responsible approach to compensating staff.

Love said the town’s salary grid consists of 17 pay bands that are adjusted annually to try to keep pace with cost-of-living increases.

“However, these increases have not kept up with the pace of inflation and the competitive evolving pay market,” she said. “These are the things that we’ll need to redress.”

Love said ensuring employees are paid fairly and competitively is a requisite for effective service delivery, given the limited resources in Ontario municipalities and the challenges in attracting and retaining staff in specialized, technical, and management positions.

Many of the municipalities compared to Orangeville have completed salary reviews in the last four years and have adjusted their pay grids accordingly.

Of the 14 municipalities used for comparison, 10 have adopted a 60th percentile higher pay target. Three of those reviewed their compensation in 2023 and seven are doing so this year.

“I recommend that the town continue the practice of taking a periodic market review of all your positions on a three to four year cycle in order to ensure competitive pay practices in light of changing demographics and in light of changing work practices in municipalities,” Love said.

Deputy Mayor Todd Taylor said staff compensation is very important and he’s seen previous town council mishandle it in a really drastic way.

“But there’s a few things that bother me,” he said.

There are seven of 10 municipalities reviewing compensation, he said, and that means Orangeville is going to continue to pay more over time.

“It spirals upwards,” Taylor said. “This is the issue that we face, that it’s going to continue to go on.”

Pay is important, Taylor said. But he believes there are other things that can be done outside of salaries in terms of training, making people feel they’re valued, and their contributions are important.

“My struggle with this is it becomes a bit of a public relations nightmare,” Taylor said, and added that the town should justify to the public why people in their positions are paid what they are.

That’s an educational component for the public that’s necessary, he said.

“I’ve been through this process many times,” Smith said. “Many times, it doesn’t spiral up. Many times, I’ve dealt in situations where staff are red-circled in certain positions.

“That’s not normally spoken about publicly, but that’s the value of this process. It targets specific positions and looks across the sector to make sure that there’s compensation that’s fair across.”

Smith said there should be no embarrassment in talking about compensation or paying staff fairly.

“That’s what they deserve and that’s what we want to deliver,” he said.

Taylor clarified his public educational component idea. He said the majority of the public may not understand the responsibilities and duties of various positions at the town. But everybody understands a numerical monetary amount.

“We’re in this industry together,” Taylor said. “I just want to explain to the people who aren’t in this industry what those (staff) people do.”

“I’m happy to hear where we are,” Councillor Joe Andrews said. “I’m also very pleased to hear where we’re going because I think for us to retain the staff that we have and also attract others that maybe want to be part of this organization we have to do so effectively and properly.”

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