All Outagamie County employees will get at least a 3% wage increase in 2024

APPLETON - Following record-high employee turnover last year due, in part, to uncompetitive wages, Outagamie County is changing its wage structure and giving every employee a minimum 3% wage increase in 2024.

The new wage structure was unanimously approved by the county board Tuesday evening and will be implemented on Dec. 17.

A recent compensation study by McGrath Human Resources Group found that 60% of county positions pay uncompetitive wages compared to similar private and public sector jobs.

Uncompetitive wages, mixed with pandemic-induced stress, caused the county to lose an average of one employee a day in 2023.

Now the county is changing its compensation and benefits in hopes of retaining and attracting full-time employees.

How competitive are Outagamie County wages?

The compensation study found that of the county's more than 330 unique job titles, the majority of them make below the market average for similar public and private sector jobs.

Of the county positions:

• 60% have uncompetitive wages

• 21% have competitive wages

• 19% make an average market wage

McGrath determined this by taking the average pay of each county job title and comparing it to similar jobs in the area and other county jobs across the state.

What is the new compensation structure?

The newly approved compensation structure will streamline the current structure and increase all wages to get them to an average or competitive market wage.

To simplify the structure, the county reduced its more than 330 unique job titles to 260.

Each job title is placed into one of 20 different pay grades based on the position hierarchy, with a 7% to 10% wage increase between each pay grade.

For example, a customer service specialist would be in the lowest pay grade while the Health & Human Services director would be in the highest pay grade.

Within each pay grade is a 10-step wage schedule and employees can go up a step, receiving a wage increase, based on their job performance. Each step gets a 3% wage increase.

New employees will generally start at step one but can be hired up to step five based on their level of experience.

Where current employees fall on the step schedule will be determined by their department heads as the new structure is rolled out in the coming months.

Additionally, the county will examine its benefits structure next year and consider providing increased benefits to help retain its employees starting in 2025.

How much of a wage increase will county employees get?

To create more competitive wages, the county is ensuring all employees will receive a minimum 3% wage increase.

The new wage structure will be implemented on Dec. 17 and all employees will be placed into the step that closest resembles their current wage without getting a decrease.

Any employees making below the new pay scale will be moved into step one of their pay grade and if moving into their closest step doesn't equal a 3% wage increase, the employee will move up a step in the first half of 2024 to ensure they meet the minimum increase for all employees.

While each employee will receive a minimum 3% wage increase in the first half of the year, the average employee will receive a 5% increase, Human Resources Director Lisa Lux told county board members Tuesday.

Under the new structure, the minimum a county employee can make is $15.81 an hour or $32,884 a year and the maximum an employee can make is $78.85 an hour or $164,008 a year.

How much will the wage increases cost the county?

The pay increase for all employees is expected to cost the county $4.3 million in 2024 and the county will determine how to pay for it in the upcoming budget process.

See how much Outagamie County employees make: Which Outagamie County employees are paid the most? Here's what we found out.

Sophia Voight is a local government and politics reporter with The Post-Crescent. She can be reached with feedback and tips at svoight@postcrescent.com.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Outagamie County approves more competitive wages for employees