Staffing Plan

Attract and engage a highly skilled and motivated workforce that is responsible and accountable to the citizens. Support the Board’s Strategic Plan 7.4 “Implement policies and programs aimed at enhancing employee recruitment and retention, including systems which address compensation competitiveness and talent management.

Summary of Revised FY2022 increase in position authorization changes:

The FY2023 Budget includes a revised authorized strength in the General Fund. An additional 4 new full-time positions and two conversion of a part-time to full-time position.

• Sheriff: Deputy Sheriff Courts Sergeant conversion of part-time to full-time R21-208
• Social Services: Self-Sufficiency Specialist II one full-time R21-364 Federal Funding
• Finance and Procurement: Records Manager conversion of part-time to full-time R21-374
• Finance and Procurement: Grants Accountant one full-time R21-390 ARPA 75%
• County Administration: Grants Coordinator one full-time R21-390 ARPA 75%
• Circuit Court: Judicial Law Clerk one full-time R22-08

A competitive and meaningful total rewards package is critical to ensuring the organization is able to attract and retain a highly qualified workforce. The needs and preferences for total rewards are continually changing with demographic and culture shifts and therefore a recurrent analysis is necessary to ensure future progress. Currently, School and County Staff are working on a joint initiative to review Request for Proposals for an updated Health Insurance Plan. This is anticipated to be brought before the Board of Supervisors prior to the adoption of the FY2023 Budget.

In FY2019, a Classification and Compensation project was launched to update the County’s overall compensation program. The study analyzed both the market competitiveness of benchmark and the internal equity of all County jobs. The outcome of the project chartered the course for the County’s current compensation plan (implemented July 1, 2019). An implementation plan to address market competitiveness and reduce pay compression was presented to the Board in a two-phase approach. The FY2020 Budget included funding for the first phase. Positions which were identified as having a high degree of turnover received their compensation adjustments 100% in Phase One (to include several positions in Public Safety). The FY2021 Adopted Budget provided funding to implement the majority of the second phase of the overall recommendation.

The Board of Supervisors supported their Strategic Plan Goal 6.4 “Approve a staffing model that addresses existing shortfalls in staffing and keeps up with the pace of growth and a funding approach for implementation” with the approval of the Stafford County Public Safety Pay Scale. The pay scale is structured as a grade and step system, with 26 grades and up to 30 steps. Grades are 7% apart with the exception of career development grades which are 3% apart. Steps increase 3% to the midpoint and then 2.5% to maximum. On December 17, 2019, the Board approved the Stafford County Public Safety Pay Scale (effective July 1, 2020) on Resolution R19-369 in order to place the County’s public safety agencies in a more competitive position within the Northern Virginia public safety market. The majority of the implementation of this system, along with individual step increases, were funded with the FY2021 budget. Implementation of command staff and the Advanced Life Support (ALS) stipend will transition over the next years.

FY2023 continues our joint health insurance program with the Stafford County Public Schools (SCPS) which continues to provide efficiencies and align benefits strategy through shared services. It is a goal of the County to offer employees a fiscally responsible benefits package that is competitive and valuable. The County and SCPS will continue to discuss opportunities to better align our benefit programs and the costs associated with those programs over the next several years.

The County continues to monitor Federal legislation surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in an effort to manage the impact on the cost of health insurance.

Strategic evaluation and planning of the County’s compensation and benefit programs is critical in order to attract and retain a highly qualified workforce to support our thriving community. The ability to utilize systems and data to make strategic business decisions for the workforce is an area identified for improvement. The FY2019 Adopted Budget included funding for a Talent Management System that will greatly improve and streamline our people management processes. Two out of three primary modules of this system have been successfully launched and future years will see expanded capabilities for the benefit of our employees.

During the 2020 session, the General Assembly approved a plan to increase minimum wage. The implementation will provide for a minimum wage increase as follows:

• May 1, 2021: $9.50
• January 1, 2022: $11.00
• January 1, 2023: $12.00
• January 1, 2025: $13.50
• January 1, 2026: $15.00

The FY23 Proposed Budget includes consideration for the increase in minimum wage. The impact to Stafford County is being measured each of the following years, and is provided to the Board of Supervisors in the Five-Year Financial Plan.

It is anticipated that additional efforts and resources will be necessary to achieve market competitiveness and benefit costs.

Stafford County employees are committed to cultivating a great community. Employees are counted on to be more generalists than specialists in order to cover more than one area of responsibility. This has been accomplished by the hard work, efforts, and team minded sprit of County employees.

In order to provide the tools employees, need to excel in their position and also take steps to advance their career, Stafford County is committed to providing a variety of professional development opportunities, including:

• Technical and computer skills
• Customer service
• Manager/supervisor training
• Leadership training
• Tuition reimbursement
• Proper workplace conduct and diversity awareness

As an organization, Stafford County will continue to invest in our human resources as our people are a critical component to delivering exceptional services to the citizens of this growing community.