At last
night’s Town Council workshop, the subject of the morale of the town employee’s
was discussed. There was talked about
having an employee appreciation day at Beaver Park, which is an excellent start. It is a shame the Town Council is so blind to
the obvious. The reason employee’s morale is so low, as I see it, is twofold: (1) The lack of leadership and (2) all
employees being treated the same.
I think the
lack of leadership is self-explanatory. So I will move on to the second point
and that is rewarding, the good and bad, employees with the same pay raises. This is done every year by the Town Council, recommended by
the Town Manager, approving Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA) for all town
employees. This is
probably the dumbest idea anyone ever came up with.
The employee who is work
the hardest and trying to improve themselves are compensated at the same rate
as the employee who is enrolled in the Retired on Active Duty (ROAD). The road program means that they are
doing just enough to get by or less and being rewarded the same as someone
working to improve the quality of service residents deserve.
The reason the town approves COLA is
because all town employees are rewarded by the same percentage but the pay
raises are never the same. The percentage is
based on the current salary and this stupid program applies to wage workers and
management personnel the same. An example of
this is the Town Manager; whose annual salary is over $90,000.00, receives a 2%
COLA increase of $1,800.00 while a wage worker earning $40,000.00 receives only
$800.00 a year increase. How can anyone justify this? Management positions should never be included
in COLA increases in this town.
If you want to raise the
morale of the employees in town, they need to start rewarding ONLY the good
employees who are working the hardest. This is
rewarding the good employees and hopefully encourages the poorer employees to
work harder. Another method is to have each department
nominate an employee for “Employee of the Month” and “Employee of the Year”. With both these positions, comes a small
increase in their pay or time off. This will recognize these employees and
hopefully push other employees to improve.
There are numerous
methods to boost morale in the town. The problem is
the leadership has to first to acknowledge the problem exists and then come up
with a plan to address the situation.
I understand because I have recommended
a number of solutions, they will never be considered, which is too bad.
Larry Fillmore
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