Countywide Classification and Compensation Audit

To meet new opportunities and challenges, ensure continuous improvement, and provide top quality service, Prince George's County Government must ensure that our compensation accurately reflects the market. The Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) has engaged Evergreen Solutions, LLC (Evergreen) to assist us in an audit of job classifications and associated compensation countywide. The focus of this audit will be to develop a classification and compensation system that will support our goals of retaining and recruiting the best individuals to ensure the continued growth and success of Prince George’s County. The results of this audit will strengthen our ability to categorize our jobs and analyze what and how our competitors pay for similar skills, duties, and responsibilities. It will establish processes that value jobs and employees within Prince George’s County based on each job and employee's contribution to the County’s objectives. Our goals for the new compensation system are as follows:

Compensation within Prince George’s County will be fair for all employees;
The system will reflect current market conditions and competitiveness with comparable organizations;
The new system will allow the County to maintain and promote career paths and a performance-oriented culture; and
It will provide the County with flexibility to continue to respond to economic and organizational changes.

The classification and compensation audit will include four (4) phases:

Phase 1 - Employee Outreach

Senior leadership, supervisors/managers, and select employees will have the opportunity to attend focus groups and provide feedback on current pay and classification practices. These focus groups will occur in August 2023. An electronic survey will also be administered to all employees to ensure everyone has an opportunity to participate; the survey will be conducted during August and September 2023.

Phase 2 - Job Assessments

Quickly following the focus groups will be the administration of an online Job Assessment Tool (JAT) to give each employee an opportunity to describe the type of work done within that job title. Work described in the JAT will be examined and grouped into job classes based on similar types of work performed. This process has been designed to give every employee the opportunity to explain the scope and complexity of their position rather than simply relying on department designations and job titles. The outcome of the JAT process also informs classification hierarchy and structure.

Phase 3 - Market Survey

Evergreen will conduct a salary and benefits survey of employers in the local and regional employment markets within which we compete for high quality staff, and they will recommend a salary plan that is competitive with salaries paid for similar occupations in those markets.

Phase 4 - Recommendations

Once the job assessments and salary and benefits surveys are completed, Evergreen will provide the County with a suggested pay plan and supporting recommendations to assist us in achieving an internally equitable and externally competitive compensation system.

Resources

Questions

Over the next 10 months, OHRM will engage the Prince George's County workforce in this process. Your engagement and insights are vital as we collectively work towards establishing robust classification and compensation system for Prince Georges County. If you have any questions or concerns about this Classification and Compensation audit, please contact the OHRM Classification and Compensation at ohrmclassification@co.pg.md.us.