Norwalk council hears consultants’ plan to replace five-step pay scale with nine-step salary structure

Norwalk City Council on the evening of the meeting heard a presentation from CPS HR Consulting and TrueComp on a comprehensive classification and compensation study recommending a shift from the city’s current five-step salary schedule to a nine-step pay structure designed to improve market alignment and create greater room for employee wage progression.

The consultants told the council the review benchmarked 44 classifications against six comparable cities and found those benchmarks covered about 40% of Norwalk’s jobs; they recommended a nine-step structure with 3.3% step-to-step increases and consistent 5% separation between pay grades to avoid pay compression and support internal career ladders.

City human resources staff initiated the study at the council’s direction to address what consultants described as internal equity discrepancies, limited progression for employees at the top of existing ranges and market competitiveness. "No employee in this plan that we recommend will have a reduction in pay," Vicky Quintero Brashear of CPS HR Consulting said, adding that most employees would receive some pay increase when moved into the new structure. Technical specialist Igor Shagalev explained the proposed system would provide nine steps for movement and a clearer matrix for assigning promotions and job families.

Consultants said the match to comparator cities (Carson, Downey, Gardena, Pico Rivera, Torrance and Whittier) produced sufficient anchor data to extrapolate recommendations to non‑benchmarked positions. They reported 64% of benchmarked jobs were at or above market and 36% lagged the market. They also told the council that 57% of Norwalk employees were currently at the top of the five-step ranges, limiting upward movement under the existing system.

Council members asked procedural and implementation questions. Councilmember Margarita Rios asked whether an employee at one step in the old system could end up at a different step in the new system; consultants replied yes and noted individual movements would vary based on current salary and the new grade assignments. Consultants and city staff said the bulk of technical work is complete but final decisions remain: staff must finish leveling a small number of jobs, assign each employee to a specific new step, calculate the fiscal impact, and return to council with a finalized structure and cost estimates.

Mayor Ayala and other councilmembers remarked that a modern, consistent salary structure would make administration simpler and support recruitment and retention. City staff said they expect to bring a finalized structure back to council in the coming weeks.

The council took no formal vote on the study during the meeting; staff will return with finalized grade assignments and the associated budget impacts before any implementation decision.