Item 4E
Item 4E – Resolution No. 16-011, Amending the City of Southlake Personnel Policies
April 5, 2016
Madame Mayor and members of the City Council. This is Human Resources Director Stacey Black and I will be presenting Item 4E. This item requests City Council amend the personnel policies
for the City of Southlake.
1
City of Southlake Strategy Map
Critical Business Outcomes
CBO1 - Continue to implement Southlake 2030 Plan by focusing on short-term initiatives.
CBO2 - Become an employer of choice by developing a plan to recruit,
develop and retain employees committed to excellence.
CBO3 - Develop long-term strategies to address future financial uncertainties and challenges.
CBO4 - Improve mobility by proactively
completing traffic analysis of key areas.
CBO5 -Optimize resources through collaboration and partnerships to reduce costs and add service value.
The City of Southlake provides municipal services that support the highest quality of life for our residents, businesses, and visitors. We do this by being an exemplary model of balancing
efficiency, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and sustainability.
Deliver on Our Focus Areas
Performance
Management &
Service Delivery
Infrastructure
C1 Achieve the highest standards of safety & security
C2 Provide travel convenience within City & region
C3 Provide attractive & unique spaces for enjoyment of personal interests
C4 Attract & keep top-tier businesses to drive a dynamic & sustainable economic environment
C5 Promote opportunities for partnerships & volunteer involvement
Serve our Customers
Manage the Business
B1 Achieve best-in-class status in all City disciplines
B2 Collaborate with select partners to implement service solutions
B3 Enhance resident quality of life & business vitality through tourism
B4 Provide high quality services through sustainable business practices
B5 Enhance service delivery through continual process improvement
B6 Optimize use of technology
Provide Financial Stewardship
Promote Learning and Growth
F1 Adhere to financial management principles & budget
F2 Invest to provide & maintain high quality public assets
F3 Achieve fiscal wellness standards
F4 Establish & maintain effective internal controls
L1 Ensure our people understand the strategy & how they contribute to it
L2 Enhance leadership capabilities to deliver results
L3 Attract, develop & retain a skilled workforce
L4 Recognize & reward high performers
L5 Empower informed decision-making at all levels in the organization
C6 Enhance the sense of
community by providing excellent customer service and citizen engagement opportunities
L6 Foster positive employee engagement
Performance
Management &
Service Delivery
B1 Achieve best-in-class status in all City disciplines
L3 Attract, develop & retain a skilled workforce
Updating the Personnel ties directly to the City’s strategy map relative to the focus area of Performance Management and Service Delivery and specifically to the corporate business objectives
to achieve best-in-class status and to attract, develop and retain a skilled workforce.
2
Resolution 16-011
Repeal Existing Policies
Amend Policies with Financial Implications
The purpose of this item is to gain City Council approval of Resolution 16-011. With this resolution Staff requests City Council repeal previously adopted personnel policies and amend
personnel policies that have financial implications effective April 15, 2016.
3
Background
Before I go over the specifics of the proposed revisions, I’d like to take a minute to discuss the background of the City’s current [CLICK] Employee Handbook.
The current Employee
Handbook contains [CLICK] all personnel policies approved by the City Council and those approved by the City Manager.
It was originally approved and adopted in [CLICK] 1989 and most
recently updated on November 17, 2015 with Council approval of an updated Travel Policy.
Over the years, [CLICK] policies have been updated and added as needed, however, many policies
remain unchanged. This has resulted in an Employee Handbook that has been patched together and contains outdated policy language.
4
City Charter Provisions
Section 4.14 of the City of Southlake City Charter establishes the approval requirements for personnel policies. It requires [CLICK] City Council approval for all personnel policies
that have financial implications. The Charter grants the [CLICK] City Manager with the authority to approve personnel policies that do not have financial implications, provided the
City Council is notified of such changes.
4.14. (a). (10) “Prepare personnel rules subject to the approval of the Council, if a rule or policy has financial implications for the City,
and provide notice of all revisions to the City Council.”
5
Handbook Revisions
New Look & Feel
Legal Compliance
New policies
Revisions
Staff has reviewed the current Handbook in its entirety and determined it was appropriate undergo a complete overhaul.
To conduct this overhaul, staff first developed a [CLICK] new
look and feel for the handbook. Updated formatting should make navigating the handbook easier and allow for future additions and revisions. Next, staff reviewed each policy to ensure
compliance with federal, state and local laws as well as best practices. Staff also looked for topics that do not currently have a personnel policy, but may be a best practice to develop
one. This resulted in the creation of many new policies that previously did not exist. Most often these policies have been included to ensure compliance with federal, state and local
laws such as policies regarding COBRA, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Whistleblower Act. Other policies have been added to document existing practices, such as the Strategic Management
System, recruiting, and resignations. And finally, there were some policies that were simply missing including, attendance, reduction in force, and social medial.
Enclosed with your
packet item you will find a printed copy of the complete current Employee Handbook and the draft Employee Handbook which includes all proposed personnel policies. Over the next several
slides, I’ll briefly describe the general layout of the handbook, highlight proposed revisions to existing policies that require City Council approval and highlight proposed revisions
to policies that the City Manager has the authority to approve.
6
Handbook Layout
The proposed Employee Handbook is broken into 11 sections and plus an Appendix. Each section covers a broad topic and includes specific policies that fall within each topic. The Appendix
contains stand alone policies already adopted by City Council including the Code of Ethics and Conduct, the Employee Business Code of Conduct and the Travel Policy.
7
Policies with Financial Implications
712 – Alternative Work Schedule
713 – Longevity Pay
714 – Tuition Reimbursement
715 – Employee Assistance Program
716 – Retirement
717 – Retiree Health Insurance Benefits
718 – Social
Security / FICA
As mentioned previously, the Charter requires City Council approval for any policy that has financial implications. Within the proposed Employee Handbook there are twenty-one personnel
policies that fit into this category. As one would imagine, the majority of these policies are related to employee compensation and benefits. This includes two policies from Section
4 – Standards of Conduct, five policies from Section 6 - Wage and Salary Administration and fourteen policies from Section 7 – Employee Benefits.
All of these policies, with the exception
of Policy 407 – Resignations, Policy 606 – Interim Status Pay, Policy 704 – Vacation Leave and Policy 714 – tuition reimbursement, include only language modernization and formatting
changes. The primary provisions of the policies remain unchanged.
[[Longevity Pay – 141.032 – requires police and fire personnel receive longevity pay in the amount of $4 per month
of service up to 25 years or $1,200]]
8
New Policy
As just mentioned, there are four personnel policies that incorporate changes beyond formatting and language modernization. This includes one newly proposed policy and revisions to
three policies. The new policy is Policy 407 – Resignations. This policy documents the city’s expectations regarding resignations. It clarifies that accrued leave may be not used
during the employee’s final two weeks of employment. It also provides the City with the ability provide an employee with two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice in situations where job or
business needs warrant. The only financial consideration in regards to this policy would be if the City were to opt to pay an employee leave in lieu of notice. However, it should be
noted that the paid leave would be deducted from the budgeted annual salary for the position. The vacant position would not be filled until the paid leave was exhausted so as not to
have an additional impact upon the budget. As such, there is no new financial impact from this policy.
9
Proposed Revisions
As just mentioned, there are three policies that include proposed revisions that change the provisions of the policy.
[CLICK] First is the interim status pay policy. This policy provides
employees who are assigned to a higher classification with additional compensation during the time they are performing the duties of the higher classification. The current policy defines
the length of an interim assignment as 30 or more days for civilian personnel, 12 consecutive hours for sworn fire personnel and 8 consecutive hours for sworn police personnel.
Section
141.033 of the Texas Local Government Code requires that police and fire personnel who perform the duties of a particular classification are entitled to the salary prescribed for that
position. It appears that the best practice has changed to provide the higher classification compensation to police and fire personnel who perform the duties of a higher classification
for any period of time. Therefore, the only recommended change to this policy is to provide interim pay to fire and police personnel who are placed in an interim assignment for any period
of time. It is anticipated that the policy revision may result in additional compensation to some police and fire personnel. It is expected that it will be less than $5,000 annually
and can be absorbed within the existing budget.
[CLICK] Next is the Vacation Leave policy. The current policy requires a 12 month waiting period before new employees may use accrued
vacation leave. The revised policy proposes reducing the waiting period to six months. There is no financial impact from this change.
[CLICK] And finally, there a few proposed changes
to the Tuition reimbursement policy. The proposed policy incorporates a two year employment commitment from employees who receive tuition reimbursement. and voluntarily leave employment
prior to two years following the completion of the most recent course. If the employee leaves employment within twelve months, they will be required to reimburse the City for 100% of
the tuition reimbursement received during the previous 2 years. If the employee separates 13 – 24 months, they will be required to repay 50% of the tuition reimbursement received in
the previous two years. This is a new provision; an employment commitment was previously not required.
The proposed policy also adds in a stipulation that all coursework must be completed
at a fully accredited college, community college or university recognized as accredited by the Council for Higher Education. No accreditation requirement previously existed. And finally,
the proposed policy clarifies that tuition reimbursement is offered for undergraduate and graduate courses. It excludes doctoral studies. The current policy is silent on this matter
and does not address doctoral studies. The only financial implication from the proposed changes is the potential for reimbursement to the City from employees who do not meet the two
year commitment requirement.
10
Policies without Financial Implications
In 2007, Provision 4.14 of the City Charter was amended to provide the City Manager with the authority to approve personnel policies that do not have financial implications. The draft
Employee Handbook contains [CLICK] 51 policies that fall into this category, and [CLICK] 19 of those are new policies. Most of the revisions to the policies are [CLICK] minor changes
made to streamline, clarify or modernize the policy.
For example, the dress and grooming standard policy has been streamlined to more clearly describe dress and grooming expectations.
It also includes more examples of appropriate and inappropriate dress. Also, the Mobile Telephone Use policy and the Technology policy were combined into one policy – the Electronic
Communication and Internet Use policy. This updated policy removed outdated language and outdated provisions. An example of a provisional change is the addition of prohibiting the
use of e-cigarettes in the workplace within the Tobacco Free Workplace policy. A complete list of the changes can be found within the packet.
11
Financial Considerations
Based upon historical trends, it is anticipated that the change in the Interim Status Pay policy may result in some additional compensation to police and fire personnel who are temporarily
assigned to higher classifications. However, it is expected that this number will be less than $5,000 annually and can be absorbed within the existing salary budget for each department.
There
are no other financial implications due to the proposed policy revisions.
12
Staff Recommends Council Approve Resolution No. 16-011 Amending the City of Southlake Personnel Policies
Staff Recommends Council Approve Resolution No. 16-011 Amending the City of Southlake Personnel Policies
13
Questions? Stacey Black 817-748-8063
14
Thank you for your time and attention on this item. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 817-748-8063.