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Attracting and retaining talent is a challenge for the City of Burlington; that’s according to Laura Boyd, Executive Director of Human Resources with the City.

The partial solution? More money for non-union employees.

“While, compensation in of itself does not motivate people, if employees are compensated poorly in relation to the marketplace, it will lead to higher turnover and less engagement”, said Boyd in her proposal to the City’s Committee of the Whole.

She says non-union employees make-up roughly 50% of the City’s workforce.

“There has been improvement on our workplace culture scores,” added Boyd. “However, one area closely related to culture which we know to have fallen behind is that of compensation”.

According to the report, salaries for non-union employees with the City of Burlington range between the 50th and 75th percentile compared to other municipalities in Southern Ontario. Boyd believes that number should be closer to the 75th in order to compete in the highly competitive GTA.

“Our market competitiveness varies across the salary grades and this could be an indication of challenges with our job evaluations system not being robust and up to date.”

Boyd said it’s been “twenty years since market comparators were first implemented” and believes the City needs to investigate where staff goes when they leave the city, which organizations are within a reasonable commuting time, what organizations have similar type roles, and which organizations are of a similar size.

Currently, only the salaries and payable benefits of those making more than $100,000 are made publically available under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996. However, according to Indeed.com, “the average City Of Burlington salary ranges from approximately $54,706 per year for Operator to $143,103 per year for Director. Average City Of Burlington hourly pay ranges from approximately $15.93 per hour for Service Clerk to $29.13 per hour for Vehicle Technician.”

The recommendation calls for a “re-aligning” of non-union salaries and is scheduled to go to council on Nov. 18.