Compensation Philosophy
RSI recognizes that to fulfill its mission it requires a diverse group of highly qualified employees – Managers/supervisors, administrative support staff, and Direct Support Professionals. To ensure that employees are recognized and rewarded appropriately for their contributions and that RSI’s resources are used efficiently and effectively, RSI supports a compensation system that:
- Provides comprehensive total compensation that is competitive within the healthcare non-profit labor market and is aligned with the availability of resources.
- Balances the need for internal equity while recognizing the desire to be market-competitive subject to resource availability and uses local and industry-specific survey data to price positions.
- Remains open to emerging compensation practices to address changes in the workforce and the workplace over time.
- Attracts qualified and competent employees with a competitive starting wage giving consideration for previous experience and education.
- Utilizes retention bonuses in an effort to reduce turnover and help retain Direct Support Professionals.
- Motivates, encourages, and rewards excellent performance by staff and assures contributions toward meeting the mission, goals, and objectives of RSI by basing salary increases on merit and performance.
- Creates and uses a merit pool as determined annually by using a combination of legislature-approved Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) dollars and other funds available as determined by the Board of Directors.
- Allocates compensation in a consistent and fair manner in compliance with all applicable legislative requirements as required for administration of the COLA dollars.
- Considers placement of salary within pay range when allocating pay increases, adjusting the percentage of increase for those salaries that are above or below midpoint.
- Expects employees to be accountable and faithful stewards of the responsibilities and resources entrusted to them.
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Annual Salary Increases
RSI has established a common review date of October 1st of each year for implementing annual salary increases. Salary increases are not guaranteed and are based on a variety of conditions, including: legislative directive on allocation of COLA dollars, individual job performance, industry trends, RSI's fiscal condition, and other business-related considerations. Out-of-cycle salary increases resulting from changing market conditions must be pre-approved by the Board of Directors.
Salary increases will be prorated based upon the date of hire. Employees who have been employed for more than a year prior to the effective salary increase date will be given the full annualized increase. Employees who have been employed for less than one year will receive a monthly prorated amount. Employees with a start date prior to the 15th of the month will receive full credit for the month that they started. Employees with a start date of the 16th will receive ½ credit for the month and employees with a start date of the 17th of the month or later will not receive any credit for the month.
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Cap-Out Increases
Each position has a salary range. If an employee reaches the maximum for the position’s salary range they will not receive a salary increase. Instead, they will receive a cap-out bonus equivalent to the percentage of COLA increase approved for salary increases for that year times their annualized salary. For non-exempt employees this will be the total hours worked for the previous 12 months times the percentage of COLA increase approved for salary increases. If there is no COLA, the cap-out bonus will be determined by the Executive Director.
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Supplemental Pay
- Retention Bonuses
- Effective July 1, 2007, retention bonuses will be awarded to Direct Support Professionals who provide direct support at least 50% of the time. Bonuses will be paid after an employee has been employed for 6 months and again after they have been employed for 12 months. Retention bonuses will be run semi-monthly and distributed with payroll.
- Referral Bonuses
- RSI is always looking for good people. Employee referral bonuses are available to staff who refer qualified candidates that RSI hires. It is the employee’s responsibility to complete and submit the necessary paperwork prior to the referee's hire date in order to get benefit for the referral. Referral bonuses will be run monthly and distributed with the first payroll. Contact Human Resources or refer to the Employee Referral Policy/Employee Referral Guidelines.
- Shift Wage Differentials
- Shift/Program wage differentials may be used for hard to fill/retain positions. All shift/program wage differentials must be reviewed with the Human Resources Director and approved by the Executive Director.
- On-Call Pay
- On-call pay is additional pay given to program and nursing exempt staff who are available to answer questions from staff on an on-call basis. Eligibility for on-call pay must be approved by the Human Resources Director and the Executive Director.
- Premium Pay for Holiday Worked
The following holidays are observed by RSI:
- New Years Day
- Easter
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day (July 4th)
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
Employees who work on an RSI observed holiday and perform direct care at least 50% of the time will receive double their regular rate of pay. Double time will be paid for the hours actually worked during the twenty-four hours of the observed holiday.*
*Exceptions to this rule are Christmas and New Year's Day. On Christmas, the hours eligible for holiday pay are from 3:00 PM on December 24th to midnight on December 25th. On New Year's, the hours eligible for holiday pay are from 3:00 PM on December 31st to 3:00 PM on January 1st.
- Overtime Pay
- Compensation for overtime will be paid at time-and-a half the hourly rate for all hourly (non-exempt) employees. All overtime must be approved by the department supervisor or on-call supervisor. Salaried (exempt) employees are expected to meet their normal job requirements and are not eligible for overtime pay; normal job requirements may extend beyond a forty hour work week.
All hours over forty in a seven-calendar-day work week (ie. Sunday-Saturday) are considered overtime. Hours worked during an uninterrupted Saturday-to-Sunday overnight shift are counted on the Sunday week if the shift began on or after 10:00 PM on Saturday. Staff meetings and training classes are considered hours worked and are included in overtime calculations. Conversely, PTO hours and paid administrative holidays are not actual hours worked and do not count toward overtime.
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Loss of Driving Privileges
The starting salary of Direct Support Professionals is contingent on being able to be insured under RSI’s vehicle insurance (acceptable Motor Vehicle Record/MVR). Staff unable to be covered under RSI’s vehicle insurance will lose $0.25 per hour compensation.
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Performance Appraisal Process
The performance appraisal process provides a means for discussing, planning, and reviewing the performance of each employee. The appraisal is a comparison of the expectations as set forth in the job description and how the employee has met those expectations. Other accomplishments apart from those detailed in the job description may also be documented.
RSI utilizes performance appraisals for the following reasons:
- Help employees clearly define and understand their responsibilities, provide criteria by which their performance will be evaluated, and suggest ways in which they can improve performance.
- Align employee performance with client, program, and agency goals.
- Identify employees with potential for advancement within RSI.
- Help managers achieve departmental goals.
- Provide a fair basis for awarding compensation based on performance/merit.
- Strengthen employee/supervisor relationship.
- Help employees set goals for future growth and development (morale/retention).
Performance appraisals influence salaries, promotions, and transfers, and will be conducted objectively. The performance appraisal will be discussed and signed both by the employee and the supervisor to ensure that all strengths, areas for improvement, job goals, and training needs identified for the next review period are clearly communicated and understood.
There are two types of appraisals:
- 3- & 6-Month Appraisals
- These are given to all staff who spend at least 50% of their hours performing direct support at their 3- and 6-month anniversary date. This provides a formal opportunity for the employee and their supervisor to review the employee’s performance and provide feedback. These appraisals are used for performance management purposes only; there is no pay increase attached.
- Annual/Common Review
- Performance appraisals are conducted on an annual cycle. Employees will receive a performance review on or near the established common review date each year. When provided, a merit increase may accompany a performance review if the employee’s performance and salary level so warrant. The amount of increase will be consistent with the approved merit budget. Merit increases are not guaranteed and are based upon company performance as outlined in the Compensation Policy.
RSI uses a multi-rater, 360-degree feedback review process which involves collecting perceptions about an individual's job performance and the impact of that behavior in the workplace from a variety of constituencies: peers, supervisors & direct reports. These sources are normally chosen based on their opportunity for firsthand interaction with the individual.
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