Employee vacancy rates in key areas of Travis County are declining as a result of measures taken by county commissioners last year, such as increasing the minimum county wage from $15 per hour to $20 per hour, as well as increasing shift differentials, according to the county’s Compensation Office.
The news comes in the wake of reports about a substantial vacancy problem in the county correctional department.
On average, the decline in vacancy rates over all surveyed jobs was 17.5 percent, with the biggest decreases taking place between December 2022 and March 2023.
On May 16, Compensation Manager Todd Osborn spoke to commissioners about the impacts of their actions on recruitment and retention.
“I believe that the Commissioners Court investment was a very successful investment in the workforce and Travis County,” Osborn said. “It put us into a position where we did not have so many critical operational vacancies, which made it difficult for the county to achieve its purposes.”
One negative consequence of increasing the minimum wage, according to Osborn, was salary compression – which is when the salaries of newer, less experienced employees becomes very close to the compensation of employees with more experience as a result of raising minimum wages. Ideally, he said, employees would be compensated according to experience, so that more knowledgeable employees are paid substantially more than ones earlier in their careers.
But Osborn said the current situation is preferable to too many vacancies.
“We really just want to thank you all very, very much for what you did. Transportation and Natural Resources is really benefiting from this,” said Susan Welbes, administrative services division director at Travis County.
Welbes said the county dropped from 61 vacant positions last October to only 35 now in its road and bridge departments. “That’s a reduction from 36 percent to 20 percent,” Welbes said.
The Parks Department went from 41 vacant positions to only 15 now, according to Welbes.
“We weren’t 100 percent effective, but this is a very substantial decline,” Osborn said in response to County Judge Andy Brown pointing out that rates had increased for certain positions, including road maintenance workers.
Welbes mentioned that vacancies for certain positions had increased because new trainee positions were introduced as a result of the commissioners’ actions last year.
“I’m not going to tell you that the changes to the pay scale were the only reason that we saw our vacancies declining,” said Osborn. “But certainly the fact that the changes took place before that decline is indicative that this was a step in the right direction.”
Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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Travis County Commissioners Court: The legislative body for Travis County. It includes representatives from the four Travis County Precincts, as well as the County Judge. The County Judge serves as the chair of the Court.
