Lynchburg employee compensation study reveals wages below market standard

Lynchburg is 2% below the 25 percentile compared to other employers

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A year ago, Lynchburg hired a consultant to conduct a salary study to determine if the Hill City meets market standards.

“We did a really deep dive into what are the responsibilities of different positions and ensuring that we are compensating folks.” Reid Wodicka, deputy city manager, said.

Lynchburg has more than 1,000 employees on the payroll. City leaders said their last raise was Jan. 1 2017. In a recent meeting, the year-long study revealed, Lynchburg is actually 2 percent below the 25 percentile compared to other employers.

“As you can imagine if you go many years without any kind of compensation change, that obviously has a demoralizing impact,” Wodicka said.

Wodicka said they know of at least 200 employees who are below the market wage.

The city’s first step is to get them at the minimum salary standard, which could cost close to $600,000. 
The city has already set aside $2 million to begin the process, but the grand total will really be about $5.1 million to get everyone up to standard.

“Over the next couple of years, we will hope to develop a plan that will allow us to continue that. This is not something that’s going to be implemented immediately. There’s going to be steps as we go through,” Wodicka said