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2 Employee Compensation Guidelines for Transit Providers in Rural and Small Urban Areas
We also provide background on the research conducted in developing the Guidebook and
accompanying interactive computer tool. Finally, we describe the interactive computer tool that
accompanies the Guidebook and how it can be used to explore salary and benefit characteristics
of comparable transit systems in rural and small urban areas.
Definition of Compensation
How much employees are compensated for their work involves more than just their salary and/or
Reducing overtime
wages. Recent literature suggests that employees frequently place a higher value on other parts of
can also save money
their compensation and that often the benefits associated with the job are as important, or more
most systems pay for
important, than their actual wages. When considering how attractive your transit system is as an
overtime at time
employer, examine your total compensation package, including (but not limited to) the following:
and a half. Reducing
overtime can save 1. Wages/Salaries
50% on those hours. · Base wages for full-time or part-time employees
· Whether employees are paid for overtime or given compensatory time
2. Benefits employee/employer contribution
· Paid Leave
Vacation
Sick
Personal days
· Medical/Life Insurances
Health insurance
Dental insurance
Disability insurance
Life insurance
· Other
Pension/401(k)
Education/tuition reimbursement
Wellness program
All aspects of a compensation package can affect a transit system's ability to attract, hire, and
retain good employees. Keep in mind that different elements of the compensation package may
motivate management employees more than front-line employees such as drivers and dispatch-
ers. Other, non-monetary aspects that will affect your ability to recruit and retain employees are
discussed in Section 4.
Compensation Issues Unique to Rural
and Small Urban Transit
Rural and small urban transit systems, by necessity, operate differently than larger urban
A transit system
systems. As distinct from their counterparts in large urban areas, which often have an entire
is only as good as its
department dedicated to managing human resources, rural and small urban transit systems have
people.
unique, non-standardized needs when making compensation decisions.
Looking at the characteristics of the systems responding to the survey for this project provides
some insights into the types of transit systems operating in rural and small urban areas of the
United States. Based on the inventory of transit systems developed for this project, it appears
there are about 1,850 1,900 rural and small urban public transit operators, including almost
1,500 rural operators and 400 small urban operators. Given that no definitive database on rural
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Introduction 3
and small urban operators exists, the best that can be assumed is that the characteristics of the
systems responding to the survey roughly represent transit systems operating in rural and small
urban areas of the country. Some characteristics of rural and small urban systems that can affect
compensation are described in the following subsections.
Service Area Characteristics
There are wide variations in the size and character of the areas served by transit systems
Service areas vary
responding to the survey. The highest percentage operate in a single county (37%), but many
greatly in terms of
operate multi-county (27%), in a single municipality (21%), or in a multi-town area (14%).
size and proximity
About half of the respondents have an urbanized area within their primary service area, but, for
to an urban area.
those that do not, the distance to the nearest urbanized area varies greatly. Consequently, some
of the respondents may be dealing with the influence of proximity to a more urban workforce
while others are not. Another measure of the urban nature of the areas served by the systems can
be seen in the source of transit funding they receive; over 80% of the respondents received S.5311
grants (for non-urbanized areas) and 22% received S.5307 grants (for small urban areas).
Transit System Organizational Characteristics
Transit systems in rural and small urban areas tend to be more varied--operating within a
Services are operated
wider range of organizational models. There are many variations in the types of organiza-
by various types of
tions/agencies operating transit in rural and small urban environs. The highest percentage of
organizations from
respondents operate within multi-purpose private-nonprofit human services agencies (25%).
independent transit
Systems operating out of a multi-purpose agency may present a different set of compensation
authorities to
issues because the employees of the agency are not focused on a single mission (e.g., compensa-
government units to
tion for transit employees may be weighed against decisions concerning home health workers
private-nonprofit
and city/county maintenance workers). County and city governments account for 17% and 21%
agencies.
of the respondents, respectively, while 15% of the respondents are transit authorities, and 14%
are single-purpose private-nonprofit agencies that only provide transportation. The issues faced
and the process of making compensation decisions within a government unit will differ from a
relatively independent transit authority or private-nonprofit agency.
Transit Service Characteristics
Most transit systems responding to the survey operate a mix of services ranging from true fixed
Systems provide
routes to paratransit/demand-responsive and everything in between. This range of services has
many types of
implications for the size and type of vehicles needed, the need for drivers to have a Commercial
service: fixed routes,
Drivers License (CDL), and the need for specific operational skills. Transit systems vary greatly
deviated fixed
in the size of their operation--from a system that operates one vehicle and provides only 10 trips
routes, paratransit,
without any CDL vehicles to systems with fleets of hundreds of vehicles requiring CDL drivers
and subscription.
and providing millions of trips annually.
Employee Characteristics
Most transit systems responding to the survey have both full- and part-time employees. For
Most systems use
those that use part-time employees, the percentage of part-time employees varies from 3% to
both part- and
100%. Only 15% use volunteers--all of those in conjunction with paid employees. The turnover
full-time employees.
rate (defined as the number of employees who left during a year divided by the average monthly
employment for the year) averages 11%, but varies widely--from 0% to 65% (with a standard
deviation of 13%). Only 20% of the respondents have employee unions at their systems; gener-
ally, these are the small urban systems operated by transit authorities or local government.
