Arkansas State Employee Merit Pay Raises (PDF)

Merit pay raises passed for Arkansas state employees After much debate today, state legislators decided to pass new pay increases for some state employees. Typically, something like this has the support of everybody, but this bill came with discussion. THV 11's Ashley Godwin was in that meeting wher...

Merit pay raises passed for Arkansas state employees After much debate today, state legislators decided to pass new pay increases for some state employees. Typically, something like this has the support of everybody, but this bill came with discussion. THV 11's Ashley Godwin was in that meeting where there are still some who are not happy with the outcome. The raises are based on performance reviews. I've heard from several employees about their frustrations with certain criteria that came along with performance evaluations. Now that the state says they are no longer being used, these employees feel they weren't accurately represented and most will not see a pay increase for another year. They're disappointed. I would say they're probably beyond disappointed. State employees were expecting a pay scale increase this year, but Governor Sanders requested a review of the process, delaying any salary increases. What Governor Sanders requested of us was to go and study the pay scale, particularly look at targeted classifications. On Friday, Governor Sanders sent out a letter saying quote, exceptional employees would get a salary increase. Those deemed highly effective will receive a 4.5% base salary increase, while those deemed role models will receive a 5% base salary increase. I hated it. It is the worst evaluation system that I've ever seen. Several state employees voiced their concerns to THV 11, saying supervisors were only allowed to give out so many exceptional rankings for employees. The state confirmed this bell curve standard started in 2018, but was stopped in May. Well, there was a memo sent to chief staffs at all the departments advising them to make sure that they rated the employees in the categories they felt they deserve. John Bridges, the executive director of the Arkansas State Employees Association, said that still leaves thousands of employees out of a pay increase. They're not getting a raise and they're very upset about that. If the employee pay scale were to be adjusted this year, it would be up to the legislature to call a special session to take up that legislation.