Building excellence : a new pay and performance plan for the state of Georgia

In addition to changes in the pay structure, there are also changes in the way pay will be delivered. The State moves to a Common Increase Eligibility Date on Oct. 1, 1996. All employees who have met or exceeded performance expectations will receive the same basic four percent salary increase effective Oct. 1.
The ftrst variable pay increases are scheduled to be awarded a year later, on Oct. 1, 1997. The percentage increase for the Exceeded Expectations rating will be higher than for the Met Expectations level, and the highest percentage increase will be awarded to employees who earn a Far Exceeded Expectations rating.
The percentage increase for each performance level will be set based on the total funds available for increases for that ftscal year. The total amount available will be determined by the Governor and the General Assembly on an annual basis. The same percentages will apply to all agencies for both classilled and unclassilled employees.

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THE CHALLENGE: MEET EXPECTATIONS
One of the most important concepts for both managers and employees to understand is that meeting expectations should not be considered the same as "getting by" on the job. Statistical research compiled by the American Compensation Association shows that in the private sector, no more than 15 percent of a company's employees typically exceed expectations. The State's new performance plans will be written to challenge employees, and meeting expectations will be a significant achievement. It will take much greater effort and success on the job to exceed or far exceed expectations.
Not only working hard, but working smart. That's the basic idea behind the ongoing Performance Management Process cycle of planning, coaching, evaluation and development that links the GeorgiaGain project to an employee's day-to-day performance on the job. The framework for rewarding excellence is in place. State employees who put their best into their performance will get the most out of their jobs. The tangible beneftt: variable pay. The intangible beneftt: employees who put Georgia ftrst come out ahead when the public service they provide makes them proud to be state employees.

10 It's important for all of us to understand that State government is undergoing major changes and we must change our organizational culture to meet the new demands being placed on us. Although agencies differ in their perspectives and their missions, we all have a shared view of what we want GeorgiaGain to accomplish: to make individuals individually accountable for their on-the-job performance.
Tommy C. Olmstead, Human Resources

As a member of the Georgia in Task Force, it has

been part of my mission to m ke sure that

GeorgiaGain in its design, implementation and

administration adheres to the letter and spirit of the

Georgia Fair Employment pr, ctices Act. The multi-

agency teams that have designed the new system are

to be commended for incorporatin8; monitoring","

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review and accountability mechanisms at various

points to further promote fairness and equity.

Mustafa Aziz, Commission on Equal Opportunity

TASK FORCE f<>r GeorgiaGaill
Chair: Wayne Shackelford Trmlsporlalifni
Project Leader: Bobbie Jean Bennett Slale Merit ,~)'slem
Members: Mustafa Aziz Commissi011 Oil Equal OjJjJorlll1liO'
Lonice Barrett
Nalural Resources
Tim Burgess
Plallning and Btu/gel
Wayne Garner
Correctiolls
Tommy Irvin
Agriculture
Sid Miles
Public SafeZl'
Tommy C. Olmstead
Human Resources
Dotty Roach
Adminislratil'e Serl'ices
August I <)')()

Every employee has the right to be treated fairly in the workplace. One of the primary objectives of our Task Force was to provide a level playing field for employees while making state government more responsive to the people we serve. Now that the framework has been developed, it is time for employees to become involved and give the new system a chance to work for them.
Tommy Irvin,
Agriculture

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The State of Georgia is no exception. What makes state government different is the concept of public service: the need for excellence in action from state employees who have a direct impact on the state's common welfare.
State employees help Georgia prosper. They bring jobs to Georgia by promoting industry, trade and tourism. They run technical schools and literacy programs to build a solid, self-sufficient workforce. They design and build Georgia's developmental highways. Some help slow the pests that threaten Georgia agriculture, others help speed up the pace of technology.
State employees protect Georgia. They enforce public health and safety standards. They staff the prisons and provide the safety nets for Georgia's frailest citizens. They manage the forests and
rivers. And when natural disaster hits, state employees are among the first on the scene to rescue and rebuild.
Working for the State of Georgia is not just a state job, it's public service. A new approach to delivering pay increases will reward employees for giving Georgia's taxpayers the excellent public service they deserve. Under the new system, pay increases

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will vary based on performance. What will count most is not time in the job, but how each employee's work measures up to high standards of productivity, quality and customer service.
Governor Miller wanted the State of Georgia to develop the GeorgiaGain pay and performance system because he saw it as a way to help state government meet the growing demands of taxpayers for more efficient government and better public service.
The Task Force of ten state agency heads appointed by the Governor to oversee the GeorgiaGain project decided that the State couldn't change to a performance-based pay system without making some other important changes as well. The Task Force agreed that the best way to build new processes that would work for Georgia was to draw on employee knowledge and experience. Employee teams were put together to redesign the way the state sets up jobs, manages performance, and awards pay.
For example, if employees are going to be evaluated and given increases based on how well they perform, they need to know very clearly what is expected of them on the job. The State had to lay the groundwork for change by writing new job descriptions for all state jobs to include not

only specific responsibilities, but also performance standards for each responsibility.
The State also needed to change its pay structure to bring it more in line with business and industry. And, of course, the State had to modify its computer systems to support all the other changes.
NOTIFYING EMPLOYEES
All of this change takes effect on Oct. 1, 1996, when the GeorgiaGain project will be fully implemented. In mid-October employees will get individual notices describing the specific changes affecting them. Positions will be assigned to new GeorgiaGain jobs and many job titles will change. Jobs also will be assigned to new pay grades, but employees' salaries will not change as a result-employees will move to the increment number on the new pay plan that corresponds to their salary.
Each notice will include a summarized version of the employee's new job description. The summary will include the typical responsibilities that someone in this job would have. The employee's current position won't have to include every responsibility listed in that job description, but the responsibilities should be generally consistent. Copies of the full job descriptions, including

performance standards for each responsibility, will be available in each agency.
In cases where new job descriptions have not been fmalized, employees in those job classes will be moved to the new pay structure, but will temporarily keep their old class titles. These employees will receive new job descriptions as soon as they are completed, with new job titles as appropriate.
REVIEW OF JOB ASSIGNMENTS In order to change to the new job and pay structures, agency project staffs had to review thousands of positions and link them to new jobs. Agencies have tried very hard to match positions to new jobs correctly, but given the size and difficulty of this task, it is likely that there will be some errors in job assignments. Any employee who thinks his or her job responsibilities are significantly different from those summarized in the new job description has until Jan. 31, 1997, to request a review to determine whether the position has been linked to the correct job.
The employee'S agency first reviews the job assignment and, if appropriate, can adjust the assignment. If a classified employee is not satisfied with the agency decision, the next step is to ask the agency to forward the request to the

3 State Merit System. The Merit System will have a three-member panel of job analysts from other agencies review the job assignment and make a recommendation to the Commissioner of the Merit System. The Commissioner's decision will be final. An employee's salary will not change as a result of any adjustment in the job assignment.
To put these changes in perspective, employees need to understand how the GeorgiaGain job and pay structures were designed. The first step was to get employees' ideas. Employee project teams used the information collected from an employee survey and a series of employee meetings as the foundation for their design.
MAKING THE PROCESS FAIR Fairness was a big consideration in designing GeorgiaGain. The majority of employees participating in the survey agreed with the idea of performance-based pay increases-as long as their performance was fairly evaluated.
The Performance Management Process was built around the idea of full employee participation in every phase of planning, coaching, evaluating and developing performance. The State also invested in extensive training for supervisors and managers on how to work with employees to make the performance cycle both fair and effective.

4 Using the Performance Management Form as a guide, an employee and his or her supervisor set specific expectations for performance on the job. So that evaluations will be fair and based on real achievement, the two discuss how the employee's performance will be measured against the expectations. If both the supervisor and the employee have done their jobs, there should be no surprises when the supervisor evaluates the employee's performance.
The team that designed the Performance Management Process also built some checks and balances into the system. At the beginning of the PMP cycle, any employee who believes his performance plan doesn't fit with his job description can request a review. At the end of the cycle, any employee who gets an overall rating of Did Not Meet Expectations also can request a review. Each agency must have one or more designated officials to handle requested plan or rating reviews. The reviewing official for a rating review cannot be the employee's first- or second-level supervisor. The decision of the designated reviewing official is fmal.

To check that ratings are being done fairly and consistently, the State's computer system will provide reports for agencies and the State Merit System showing performance ratings by supervisor, work unit, and agency-wide.
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THE NEW JOB STRUCTIJRE For employees to get new job titles on Oct. 1, agency project teams had to compile information about thousands of state jobs and write updated job descriptions. The multi-agency Job Team created a computer questionnaire to get information on specific skills and abilities needed on each job. The questionnaire data was analyzed to rank jobs by the level of skills and abilities required. This process-called job evaluation-helped analysts assign jobs to the correct pay grades.
Jobs have been placed on the pay grade that best reflects two factors: one, what the market pays for the knowledge and skills required and, two, how the job compares to other state jobs in terms of necessary knowledge and skills. To make this comparison among state jobs, the State weighed factors such as problem-solving/analytical skills, responsibility for planning, the degree of independence on the job, and types of licenses required. Jobs may be on a new pay grade with a higher maximum salary than the current pay grade, or on a pay grade with a lower maximum.
Moving a job to a new pay grade will not increase or decrease an employee's salary, because the employee moves to the increment

5 number on the new pay plan that corresponds to his or her salary as of Oct. 1. If an employee's salary at implementation is above the maximum of the new pay grade, the salary will not be reduced; however, that employee will be eligible for future increases only if the maximum of the
As cbairJlUlJl (~r tbe Task Force j(Jr GeOlgia(;aiJl, I fJeliel'e tbattealllll'ork bas lIIade tbe d~Oerellce iJl bou' u'e!lu'e'I'e balldled the lIIassil'e scope of this redesigJl project. (;eOlgia(;aiJl represeJlts a jillulalllelltal cbaJlge ill boll' state gOI'enl/JleJlt IlullUlges its bUJ/UlJl resources. Wi"l'e bad to redesigll .~)'stellls, rel'ise policies alld procedures, traiJl J/UlJlagers... reexalllille tbe old gil'eJls of tbe superl'isor/elllph~)'eerela!ioJlsbip. /I took tealllu'ork to basb out tbe tee/mical issues aJld to reacb cOJlseJlsus Oil tbe fJig polity issues. 1'111 jJroud tbat ll'e bal'e COIJle togetbel; across ageluy amI dejJartllleJltalliJles, to lIIake Ge()JgiaGaiJl bappen
Wayne Shackelford, Transportation Chair, GeorgiaGaill Task Force

pay grade is adjusted above his or her current salary. The notices distributed in October to give employees their new job titles and pay grades will also show the new increment number and the pay range for each employee's position.

The market research we've done for GeorgiaGain has given us a much clearer picture of how state
government salaries compare to the outside market. Part of the GeorgiaGain development process will be to move toward a more market-sensitive salary structure designed to attract and retain top-caliber employees. We're doing this to be fair and to stay competitive: the state workforce is a key part of the infrastructure that can make or break Georgia in today's highly competitive global economy. Efficient delivery of essential public services will become a key selling point for Georgia as GeorgiaGain helps us develop a highly motivated and highly productive state workforce.
Bobbie Jean Bennett, State Merit System
GeorgiaGain Project Leader

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UPDATING THE PAY STRUCTURE
To make the State's pay structure more like those in the business world, the number of pay grades for classified jobs has been reduced from 44 to 19. The new pay grades will begin with pay grade 5 and go through pay grade 23. Just as now, there will be many different jobs on each pay grade.

7 combined and have the same job title and pay grade. Performance-based pay increases will give employees a chance to advance on the pay range, even though the original promotional series has been compressed. Agencies also are expected to have some flexibility to move employees up the pay range based on increased knowledge, skills and experience on the job.

With the new pay structure in place, some jobs that have been on different pay grades will be on the same pay grade. In a few cases, jobs that have been part of a promotional series may be

An important goal of GeorgiaGain has been to bring pay for state jobs closer to what is paid in the overall job market. While the State can't always match what business and industry pay for

As budget director, I think GeorgiaGain is a good fit for Georgia because it requires fiscal responsibility: managers will now be held accountable for how well they manage the State's human resources. Likewise, employees will be held accountable for their performance.... GeorgiaGain will tie performance objectives to an agency's and the State's business objectives.
Tim Burgess, Planning and Budget

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Pay Grades

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every type of job, the goal is to make state salaries as competitive as possible in order to continue to hire and keep good employees.
State jobs were compared-wherever possiblewith jobs in the outside job market and something called a market midpoint was established for each pay grade. The market midpoint is the average rate generally paid in business, industry, and government to employees in jobs on a particular pay range.
The market midpoint was used to determine the maximum salary for each pay grade. The tops of the new pay grades-the maximum salaries-were determined by adding from 20 percent to 30 percent to the midpoints. Every job assigned to a pay grade will have the same maximum. Building the pay structure around the market midpoint ties in with the state's goal of bringing pay for state jobs closer to the overall job market.
COMPETITIVE HIRING SALARIES
The State would like to make the hiring rates for state jobs competitive with the market by setting target hiring salaries at 20 to 30 percent below market midpoint. But because the State's money is limited, the hiring rate for some jobs will be below the target rate. Initially, each of those jobs will have a recommended hiring salary equal to

the lowest salary paid to an employee in that job who has met expectations. The goal is to get hiring salaries up to the target hiring rate-over time-as the General Assembly appropriates funds.
For example, the hiring rate for Job A shown below already is at the target level. Job B is slightly below the target. So even though both jobs are on the same pay grade, the recommended hiring rate for Job A is higher than the rate for Job B. The goal is to get Job B up to target as well by gradually increasing the entry pay level. The minimum for each pay grade has been set below the recommended hiring salaries of jobs in the pay grade. Few jobs, if any, will have hiring rates set at the pay grade minimum.
PAYGRAOE MAXIMUM
MARKET MIDPOINT
TARGET HIRING LEVEL
PAYGRAOE MINIMUM
Job A: On target hiring level Job B: Below target hiring level