Our “Interim Compensation Strategy”

One of the elements of last year’s state personnel reform is the ability to reward staff who do great work and have tangible results to prove it.  Our first opportunity to take advantage of the incentives are coming this month with something called our “interim compensation strategies”.  It’s basically the first stop in the road for applying incentives called spot bonuses and meritorious leave. 

In March we turned in our Interim Compensation Plan which was later approved by ADOA. Since that time, our team of HR staff and management in each division have identified folks who are candidates for the awards. You know it takes every one of us to make this place hum….  and as I reviewed the justifications for the 20% of us who received some level of award, I realized what an amazing team we have. 

If you’re one of the recognized employees, you’ll receive a letter next week from your division management, and a  financial award will appear in your paycheck the last week of June.  If you received meritorious leave, an extra 8 hours will be available to you to use during the next year.  We made a real effort to make sure we were recognizing folks at all levels of our organization.

Depending on what happens with the state budget negotiations, the program could continue.  If this part of personnel reform is included in the signed budget, we’ll be writing a new plan for the next evaluation period (September, 2013 – June, 2014)…  which will include numerous compensation options. One example is a goal-based incentive.   A team or individual may be eligible if they complete a difficult and challenging project and meet all the deliverables.  Remember, these compensation strategies are in addition to merit pay that will be earned by employees who are evaluated (by their supervisors using the MAP system) among the top of their peers.  You can read more about all of the available options at the ADOA website on Compensation Strategies. 

Thanks again for what you bring to the table each and every day. I encourage you to work closely with your supervisor to understand the expectations of your position, and what it takes to be recognized as an exemplary employee. Celebrate your accomplishments and those of others. Together we make an incredible team!