Working Together for Public Service:Chapt 5 Snap

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Working Together for Public Service

Snapshot: CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Saddled with a pay system for some 2,000 police officers and fire fighters that had become so complex no one really understood it, the city of Charlotte decided to go directly to those affected to find a better way.

Using an employee involvement approach, the city assembled in 1993 two teams of employees (police and fire) representing different ranks and assignments, including civilians. The task forces tackled the task of developing a new performance management process in addition to the compensation system question. This effort took place against a backdrop of larger organizational change being instituted citywide in response to increased service demands and rising costs, coupled with a continuation of flat revenues and a City Council mandate to hold the line on taxes.

While a trend toward employee involvement in developing programs, processes and philosophies has been the norm in Charlotte since the 1980s, the police and fire departments had yet to successfully integrate a change in focus from procedures and regulations to customer service. These compensation task forces also served to open up communication and problem-solving on service improvement workplace issues.

Thus, this bottom-up approach to change in the police and fire departments required a willingness by top department management to let go of the process and give the teams free rein. Fire Chief Luther Fincher acknowledged he had to give away some power. But he told the Task Force that the employee committee process did a better job on the tasks than the management staff would have done. Management showed faith in the abilities of both committees as they were empowered to speak directly to the City Council. As Captain Tim Rogers, a leader of the firefighters' committee said, "The Chief never said, `No.'"

The role of the Human Resources Department personnel also changed. The department no longer tried to dictate the results of the process. Instead, its role was to support and facilitate the process, which was controlled by the employees. In the case of the firefighters, Human Resources staff rode along on the trucks in order to better understand firefighters' service issues and to develop mutual trust and understanding.

Human Resource officials, Bill Wylder and Karen McCotter told the Secretary's Task Force this transition was not easy make. However, with department staff reduced from 32 to 18 as part of the larger organizational change, the change in role from "doing everything" to facilitating and consulting also had its attractions.

The Police Department task force used the redesign process to:

Evaluate the problems associated with the old compensation plan;
Identify the desired elements of a new public safety pay plan;
Determine the market value of the various police ranks by collecting and reviewing salary data from other cities of comparable size; and
Develop recommended pay plan changes that would address these concerns while ensuring that salaries stayed competitive with the market.

The plan that emerged for both the Police and Fire Departments involved simplification of steps, elimination of across-the-board increases and closer ties to performance. Each department had a compensation budget for implementation for the fiscal year. The only constraint was to remain within the salary budget. Thus, adjustments to salaries based on market values had to be made within the parameters of the budget. The people in the departments made the required choices in salary rates and schedule of adjustments, completing the shift from centralized to decentralized compensation management.

The police task force also used the process to shift the focus of its performance management system from a procedures orientation to an outcome orientation, with particular emphasis on customer service. This mirrors the ongoing change from traditional policing to community policing. (When theTask Force visited Charlotte in April 1995, the Fire Department task force was in the process of developing its performance management process with HR once again serving as consultant.)

The new police performance evaluation systems attempts to build objectivity, uniformity and fairness by instituting a uniform check-list and otherwise attempting to eliminate the inconsistency in ratings that can come from varying personalities of supervisors (for example, those who like to write lengthy appraisals versus those who don't). Excessive paperwork, such as the six-month rating, was eliminated and individuals became responsible for helping to flesh out their own appraisals by reminding superiors of what they've done.

Police officers say they now are evaluated on actions which are more relevant to their jobs. For example, they no longer just count arrests. Now, they attempt to measure outcomes, the individual's knowledge of the district, communications, and whether the response provided is appropriate to the nature of the call (particularly in terms of time expended). All use of sick days used to be counted in the performance evaluation; now it only figures in if there is a problem.

As a result, the evaluation system is more flexible to accommodate the changing nature of the work. According to workers and management, several factors contributed to the success of the task forces' efforts:

Employees were involved in the identification of the organizations surveyed for market data, increasing confidence in the data collected.
Top managers were willing to delegate the power and authority, while remaining involved in a supportive capacity.
The implementation decisions which balanced preferred pay plan design characteristics with available funds were made by employees instead of Human Resource and Budget Office staff, increasing acceptance and practicality of the new plan.
Team members regularly shared information and consulted constantly with the rank-and-file, visiting all facilities and shifts, testing ideas and taking input.
Employees developed the criteria for the performance appraisal, which increased confidence in the applicability of measures.
Task Force members from the Police and Fire Departments worked separately to develop systems to address their specific concerns. However, the two periodically discussed their progress and shared the basis for concerns and proposed resolutions. This sharing improved the products of both departments, increased the understanding of the differences and similarities between the police and fire functions and resulted in an acceptable level of plan consistency between the two departments.
Members of the police task force conducted the majority of the training needed in their new system (initially, 75 sessions over a six-week period), increasing the credibility and acceptance of the new processes. This had the added benefit of drawing out or enhancing skills of task force members, most of whom had never done any training before.
The activity of Human Resources personnel as facilitators was an important factor and represented a useful change in role.
Some committee members were members or officers of local employee associations and made effective use of their leadership skills, relationships and credibility to gain input and acceptance.
Members had a "can do" attitude and were willing to give their time to the project.
Members put aside rank and self-interests to seek the best plan within the money available.