Paying for Performance

A city with about 150 employees was trying to identify ways of improving employee performance. Following a careful organizational review, Wayne Parker recommended and subsequently developed a pay for performance plan which based merit increases and bonuses for employees on achieving performance goals rather than simply putting in time.

Management Audits

The management audits and reports conducted by Wayne C. Parker involve looking closely at a public sector organization or department and carefully analyzing the functioning of that operation.

Process

1. Scoping
First, the consultant or team will meet with the client to discuss their expectations for the study. By working through a set of questions and issues, the consulting team will come to better understand the expectations and the nuances of those expectations.

2. Stakeholder Meetings and Interviews
Generally, the consultant or consulting team will meet with and/or survey various stakeholders of that department or organization to better understand the department and the stakeholders' perceptions. These individuals or groups might include:

• Elected Officials
• Appointed Officials
• Leaders
• Customers
• Advisory Board Members
• Peer Organizations

3. Citizen Surveys/Focus Groups Often, the management analysis is significantly enhanced by conducting opinion research among citizens or citizen groups. This research can take the form of interviews, telephone or mail surveys, or focus group meetings.

4. Organizational Review
The consultant or team will also review the organization's policies and practices to ensure that they are reasonable and meet the demands of current law and best practices. These areas of review might include such areas as financial management, human resources management, risk management, public communications and the like.

5. Benchmarking
This process involves looking at the main performance indicators of the organization and comparing those indicators with the "best of breed" public organizations locally and nationally. We will examine indicators that deal with:

• Input measures such as workload, cost, revenues, and human resources
• Output measures such as work performed, revenue generated, service levels provided
• Efficiency measures such as cost per employee, cost per unit of service
• Outcome measures involving the final impact of the work done in the broader community. This might include such things as crime statistics, quality of public health, etc. depending on the type of organization.

6. Preliminary Report
Following the research phases, the consultant or team will prepare a preliminary report listing the key findings and recommendations. The preliminary report will be reviewed with the client and perhaps with some stakeholder groups to verify the conclusions and recommendations.

7. Final Report
Following this final check, the consultant will prepare the final report listing important findings and recommendations. In addition, the consultant will offer ideas concerning methods for improving performance based on the recommendations.

For more specific information, please complete our request for proposal form and a representative will contact you.