Salary Study Services

The Vendor is required to provide the classification and compensation study is to address changes in city operations and staffing, as well as account for significant changes in external factors, impacting pay.
- Objectives are to:
•    Attract and retain qualified employees.
•    Ensure positions performing similar work with essentially the same level of complexity, responsibility and knowledge, skill and ability are classified together, reducing the number of job titles across the organization.
•    Provide salaries commensurate with assigned duties and responsibility.
•    Clearly outline promotional opportunities and provide recognizable compensation growth.
•    Provide justifiable pay differential between individual classes.
•    Maintain a competitive position with other comparable government entities and private employers within the same geographic areas.
•    Ensure the total compensation structure is fair, easy to administer and maintain for future growth and development of the city.
- All work will be done with the regular involvement of the HR Director, HR Deputy Director and HR team.
- The study shall evaluate the present salary structure as compared to the specific job market for comparable positions in the public sectors.
- The consultation shall perform or provide the following:
•    Provide for a comprehensive evaluation of every job within the city to determine relative worth within the organization for internal equity and for the establishment of pay ranges and step progressions (if appropriate) within the ranges.
•    Review and revise all current job classifications, confirm, and recommend changes to hierarchical order of jobs using your evaluation system.
•    Establish appropriate benchmarking standards and conduct salary surveys as needed for similar positions with comparable Michigan municipalities as required.
•    Identify potential pay compression issues and provide potential solutions.
•    Analyze and recommend changes to the present compensation structure to meet market analysis. This recommendation may include recommendations for individual positions as well.
•    Compare and analyze the city’s current operational needs to industry standards and best practices of other cities or municipalities of similar sizes.
•    Recommend potential opportunities for pay for performance or bonus structure.
- Classification Study
•    Consultant to review current classification grade methodology and propose recommended strategies for the city.
•    Consultant to conduct interviews and/or job audits as appropriate. Interviews and/or job audits may be conducted individually or in groups based upon classification.
•    Consultant to update job descriptions to uniformly reflect the distinguishing characteristics, essential job functions, minimum qualifications (education, experience, and knowledge/skill and ability), working conditions (mental abilities, physical demands, work environment, and travel requirements), and certifications/licenses/registrations requirements for classification as needed.
•    Consultant to present proposed recommendations to HR and City Administration for review prior to making any final classification determinations.
•    Consultant to finalize class specifications and recommend appropriate classification for each employee, including correction of identified discrepancies between existing and proposed classifications.
•    Consultant to identify career ladders/promotional opportunities as deemed appropriate.
•    Consultant to submit recommendations for appropriate implementation measures that staff will need to take.
•    Consultant to provide a straightforward, easily understood, maintenance system that staff will use to keep the classification system current and equitable. The classification system should be provided in an electronic medium. Maintenance should include annual activities, as well as the process we would use in the review of the classification of individual jobs, as needed. 
- Compensation Study
•    Consultant to review current compensation plan (salary grade levels, should we have steps) and understand the current challenges in recruiting and retaining employees.
•    Consultant to recommend and identify a consistent and competitive market position that the city can strive to maintain.
•    Consultant to recommend comparable labor markets, including both private and public sector employers for compensation surveys.
•    Consultant to develop and conduct a comprehensive compensation survey.
•    Consultant to recommend appropriate salary range for each position based on the classification plan, the compensation survey results, and the internal relationships and equity. Prepare a new salary structure based on the results of the survey and best practices.
•    Consultant to develop guidelines to assist city staff with determining the starting pay for new employees based on knowledge and experience above the minimum requirements of the position, how difficult the position is to fill and market competitiveness.
•    Consultant to recommend implementation strategies including calculating the cost of implementing the plan.
•    Consultant to identify any extreme current individual or group compensation inequities and to provide a recommended corrective action plan and process to remedy these situations.
•    Consultant to make recommendations to provide implementation strategies related to other key compensation practices, based on market demands, including pay for performance, skill pay, special assignment pay, certification pay, bilingual pay, promotional pay, and acting assignment pay.
•    Consultant to conduct a compression analysis to include any recommendations for implementation. 

- Questions/Inquires Deadline: January 07, 2026