Aldebol asks how salary schedules and retention bonuses are set
Aldebol asks what factors shape salary schedules and how common retention bonuses are; Pollack says OLR weighs recruitment and retention data, where in a career employees leave, and union input, and is cautious about shifting pay between junior and senior employees.
When OLR is negotiating with bargaining representatives, what factors are considered when developing salary schedules for specific titles and how commonly
are retention bonuses included within salary schedules?
I would say when we're developing a salary schedule, you know, it's about priorities, right?
Whether it's a salary schedule or, you know, a longevity type payment, we have to consider how it would impact recruitment and retention.
Obviously, it's a very important factor.
You know, we have to consider, sometimes we'll look at where our employees leaving in that title.
If we see the problem is, you know, in the first year, we may have to put an entry salary and not be willing to say drop that down to elevate the more senior salary.
If it's a title where people are leaving for some reason at year six or seven, maybe we need to provide a margin of longevity that can bump up the salary at that point.
So it's nuanced.
We always listen to the union, their view about what should happen.
But obviously we are.
also always interested in data about where there are issues.
And, you know, for example, we wouldn't want to, something that often happens in bargaining has happened, is you drop the starting salary a little bit for new employees to fund something else, sometimes increases for more senior employees, something we've done before.
You know, it's not always warranted, and sometimes it can be counterproductive.
So we always want to make sure we're cautious of doing anything like that.