NEW ULM — Brown County commissioners unanimously approved seven county employee grade classification hikes recommended by a Twin Cities human resources firm Tuesday.

Action came on a motion by Commissioner Brian Braun, seconded by Jeff Veerkamp to reclassify human services positions including case aide and case aide income workers to grade 5, eligibility worker to grade 6, Bridge on Center staff to grade 6, fraud collection officer to grade 7, assistant facilities manager to grade 8 and IT GIS/website administrator to grade 9.

David Drown Associates (DDA) Management Consultant Dr. Tessia Melvin said her company is seeing recruitment and retention issues becoming more and more important.

Melvin said factors that influence the market include increased turnover rates in public sector jobs, other entities doing compensation studies, and a labor shortage particularly some licensed fields.

“It’s cheaper to retain and reward people than lose them and have to rehire,” said Melvin.

She said a number of county public health department pay changes are pending and will be presented at a later date.

DDA provided a market analysis of all county jobs, reviewed 1/3 of job descriptions in order to maintain pay equity and provide human resource assistance.

The market analysis showed Brown County is 2% above market minimum average compensation rates and slightly above market average maximum rates.

The report said the County has a 13 wage-step system while most of the County’s benchmark group has 8-10 steps.

As part of ongoing maintenance, DDA works with human resources to send out current job descriptions and position review forms to employees in the annual review of jobs. Employees and supervisors must review current job descriptions and complete position review forms, indicating if any job description changes are necessary.

The DDA consultant reviews all job descriptions, classifications and County internal equity. The project is not a strategy designed to cut costs, reduce or increase pay, eliminate positions, or study staffing needs, according to DDA.