Finding employees to repair sprinkler lines, mow lawns or tend gardens on campus hasn’t been easy for Sue Pope.
Pope, who supervises the U’s grounds workers and heavy machinery operators, said low wages are making the U an unattractive employer. Because competitors can pay laborers more, Pope finds it hard to recruit and retain people to perform labor-intensive tasks.
“I’ve had positions that have been open for a year that I haven’t been able to fill,” Pope said. She said there are currently five or six open positions on her staff.
Landscapers and sprinkler mechanics, Pope said, often make $3 to $4 less per hour than city employees performing similar work and much less than if they were to work for a contractor.
Cory Higgins, an administrator who oversees campus maintenance, said a hot construction market is making it tough to find employees because contractors can usually pay more than the U. The construction market is hampering hiring for a variety of positions, including landscapers, he said.
In Plant Operations, the division Higgins manages, he said there are 15 to 20 current job openings.
However, Higgins said he thinks the U offers fairly competitive wages and a host of benefits that most contractors don’t offer such as health insurance, retirement and vacation time.
“We are close to what I would say (is a competitive wage),” Higgins said.
Because many contractors hire workers for individual jobs, Higgins said, the U also offers a more stable working environment.
He said in recent years the U has worked to make its salaries more competitive with outside employers.
“In the last couple of years that gap has closed significantly,” Higgins said.
He said wages were stagnant for several years because the state had a tight budget and couldn’t fund any increases. But all state employees received a 3 percent pay raise this year, and some divisions of Plant Operations have been given additional pay increases.
Pope said the 3 percent increase means little when it is added to her staff’s paychecks and that increases haven’t kept pace with inflation.
“It just seems to get progressively worse,” Pope said. “You just hope (employees) like it here.”
Although complaints about wages aren’t new, Pope said that in the 22 years she worked at the U problems seem to have gotten worse in the last five to eight years.
She said other supervisors in Plant Operations are having similar problems recruiting new employees.
“They all are losing employees to outside sources,” she said.
Robert Norwood, who supervises the Carpenter Shop, said although pay could be higher, he thinks the rate for his workers is fair.
He said carpenters in the outside market can make $17 to $18 an hour — more than the $13 his employees currently make. But he said the benefits and job security the U offers aren’t common.
Although Norwood said “historically wages (at the U) have been lacking,” he said management stepped up to the plate when they gave his workers a pay raise last summer.
Other supervisors declined to comment.
He likewise said the gap in wages between the U and contractors is tied to the high demand for construction workers.
“In a year or two when (the construction) market has cooled off, a person would be thrilled to make $13 an hour,” Norwood said.
Higgins said the shortage of workers is forcing the U to hire more outside contractors for smaller upgrades that staff members would have done before, such as installing an electrical socket.
“Maintenance is our first priority,” he said.
Pope said understaffing is forcing her staff members to do extra work or put off projects until they have the time to do them.
“Basically, you don’t get the extra detail things accomplished when you’re shorthanded,” she said. “You can’t do an adequate job when you’re spread so thin.”