How will state employees' new compensation system work? Here's what you need to know

State employees are receiving pay raises, many for the first time in a decade, as part of a new compensation system being rolled out by the state Civil Service Commission over the next few weeks.

The state employed 39,687 classified civil servants as of July 28 and nearly all will receive a 2 percent across the board increase on Jan. 1, 2018. The last overall adjustment to civil service pay scales happened in July 2007, under Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

About 6,200 employees – including entry level correctional officers, probation and parole officers and child welfare specialists – will receive an additional pay bump on Jan. 2 as the state moves to bring lower paid employees up nearer to private market rates. State workers making less than the newly established minimums on pay schedules will be raised up to meet that rate.

The schedules have been around for awhile. But the revised “occupational pay schedules,” which has six levels, is an important part of the new compensation system aimed at keeping public employee salaries somewhat closer to what private employers pay for similar jobs. The shift is in response to the lag – up to 28 percent in some cases – between what public employees make and what private workers earn.

Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_5040c81a-7970-11e7-8027-d7dfa8cecc2e.html