A Special Report written for CaliforniaCityNews by Joanne Sanders of BOLT Staffing Service, Inc.
Unexpected and unbudgeted projects are the bane of any well managed city. However, the demands of a vibrant democracy require nimble management to successfully execute the demands on policymakers. An excellent illustration is the current trend in progressive localities to regulate minimum wages.
The City of Richmond, population 104,000, is poised to mandate the highest minimum wage in the state. Months of wrangling by the city council yielded an ordinance that will bring a $13 minimum wage by 2018, and will be linked to inflation thereafter. The law contains exemptions opposed by labor leaders, and provisions opposed by businesses. Even Mayor Gayle McLaughlin is unhappy with the result, saying the exemptions will create unfairness and confusion.
The law is a product of a scramble by city staff to analyze its impact on the local economy in a very short time. The results were predictable, with conflicting outlooks for workers and employers. In the end, city leaders were caught between the pressures of activist labor organizations and the economic clout of business.
The result is a law that no one is happy with, and one that is likely to be unwieldy to enforce. In fact, enforcement seems to be a general problem with local minimum wage laws.
San Francisco, population 837,000, is one of the pioneers of the concept of locally mandated minimum wages. In response to the voters’ wishes, the city established the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. In the nearly 11 years since voters passed the labor reform, the law has been enforced by complaint. Unable to pursue abuses directly, the office relies on community groups to produce educational workshops to inform workers that are most at risk for abuse about the protections available to them and also to provide tips on violations.
Another locality currently considering wage regulation is Sonoma, population 10,000. Unlike San Francisco or Richmond, Sonoma lacks even the support of a human resources department to recruit the kinds of skills needed to analyze the impact of such a law on the local economy. As such, establishing the human infrastructure to enforce a wage law would be a major impact on city staff.
As the trend continues to work its way through the state, more and more municipalities can expect to devote staff time to studying impacts and supporting legislation. City staffs will be asked to either study the impact in their localities or find consultants to do the heavy lifting. In either case, staff time will be diverted to support the effort. Furthermore, once an ordinance is adopted, the staff must devise the means to enforce it.
All of this means big demands on limited resources. While we use the local minimum wage trend as an example, it is hardly the only unbudgeted surprise that constituencies can spring on city leaders. How do you plan for unforeseen demands in your organization? Do you include outside staffing as a safety valve?
A staffing partner can provide flexible solutions by either providing trained personnel to cover for regular staff members diverted to unexpected projects, or by supplying the expertise to address the matter in question. BOLT Staffing specializes in both. Call us today and let us show you how can help you before the next big surprise lands on your desk!
Contact Joanne Santers at the email address here, and learn more about Bolt Staffing, Inc. at their site
www.boltstaffing.com
Toll Free: 1-844-BOLT JOB