Challenge 

Before using ERI’s Assessor Platform, Harris County had no formal market pricing process established. Working without reliable compensation data was inadvisable, and the county faced difficulties benchmarking salaries, ensuring pay equity, and staying compliant with labor regulations. 

Solution 

Harris County turned to ERI to obtain more coverage for county government and law enforcement roles, such as Animal Control Officer, Police Chief, Housing Manager, and many other municipal jobs whose salary data are often hidden behind the walls of the internal agencies in which the roles operate. As ERI obtains more and more municipal jobs through ongoing compensation research projects, ERI is able to provide reliable ranges for jobs that are otherwise difficult to aggregate, including law enforcement and firefighting jobs, as well as other municipal job titles related to utilities, public works, parks and recreation, housing, emergency management, and city administration. Harris County also used the Hybrid Jobs feature as part of their benchmarking process, enabling them to combine and assign weighting to multiple component survey jobs to provide even more accurate benchmark data for niche roles. 

Additionally, further aligning their internal pay structures to the market using geographic differentials provided in ERI’s Geographic Assessor, such as cost-of-labor and cost-of-living percentages, Harris County was able to clearly evaluate pay across Houston and surrounding regions and analyze pay differences between major labor markets to determine competitive pay rates.  

Furthermore, Harris County used easily downloadable Advanced Reports based on saved benchmark job lists that can be exported year after year for ongoing analysis of their pay practices. Employing these downloadable reports enables the Harris County team to check that they continue to provide pay that is equitable to the market. 

Results  

According to Director of Compensation, Amanda Porter, “ERI helps us evaluate current data accurately, while supporting fairness and compliance across roles. The rollout was seamless because our team was already familiar with ERI.”  Looking ahead, Harris County plans to expand its use of ERI’s Assessor Series by uploading employee data into the platform, using salary projection tools for long-term planning, and incorporating additional government and law enforcement benchmark jobs planned for inclusion in ERI’s platform soon. 

Figure 1. Choose from an array of municipal jobs, including law enforcement positions, to get detailed compensation data for an individual role in Houston using the Job Report in ERI’s Salary Assessor.

Figure 2. Create custom reports for a list of municipal jobs in various locations in the Houston area using Advanced Reports in ERI’s Salary Assessor. 

Figure 3. Compare geographic pay differentials at various salary levels for multiple locations in the Houston area at once in the Cost of Labor List in ERI’s Geographic Assessor.

The Platform for All Your Organization’s Needs   

ERI’s Assessor Platform is key to optimized salary planning. Our robust compensation management solution houses the salary survey data and applications that you need to design competitive and effective compensation structures. From benchmarking with reliable market data to analyzing geographic differentials and conducting pay equity analyses, ERI’s comprehensive platform is an innovative way of merging integral salary survey data with efficient features, all in one system.   

Are you interested in ERI’s unique compensation solutions? Try a demo to jump-start the way you manage compensation!