Benefits/compensation study consultant selected

By Dana Casadei

The Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees awarded their benefits and compensation study project to Management Advisory Group International from Virginia at their Monday, July 23, meeting.

Management Advisory Group International was one of eight companies putting in bids to take on this project for the township and it will cost $34,500, all of which will be funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds the township received. The board of trustees approved this spending last November.

While supervisor Dani Walsh said all eight companies who put in bids – which ranged from $21,840 to $130,000 – were strong candidates, Management Advisory Group International stood out from the crowd right from the beginning, becoming one of five they interviewed, then making it to the final two, where they ultimately won the recommendation. 

“All of the different groups had unique traits to them and what their specialties were,” said trustee Chris Kolinski. “When it came down to the two finalists, they were both personable, and we liked the experience they were providing us, which was incredible.”

Not only do they have decades worth of experience in the field, but also are very familiar with Michigan, having completed surveys within the public sector throughout Canton Township, Dearborn, Southfield and counties such as Wayne and Oakland.

They already have core data about some of the challenges happening in Michigan, and Kolinski said that they gave new ideas to the committee for this consultation that no one else had.

Walsh also mentioned that Management Advisory Group International is willing to do interviews with a variety of people from their staff, including union presidents for the township, who represent hundreds of people, as well as different department heads for Bloomfield Township.

The list for why this group was picked continues with Management Advisory Group International’s willingness to provide three in-person meetings; conduct employee surveys and interviews; their recent experience with new benefit trends; their ability to provide software for future job classifications and scales; and they had one of the shortest timelines for the projects at only 12 weeks. 

Even though Management Advisory Group International was who the committee ultimately went with, Walsh said that all eight proposals they received were strong. But given the committee’s focus on the different companies’ experience, their willing to do in-person interviews, level of employee engagement, proposed timeline, and the cost for the study, three were knocked out early, not even making it to the interview round. 

“Employee engagement was a huge one for us because if you’re not asking people what they want, you might be spending a lot of time focusing on something that’s completely uninteresting to them,” Walsh said. 

Notably, one of the three companies not interviewed was Segal, which the township has used before, but Walsh said that they were too compensation-focused, something the township isn't looking for this time.

This benefits and compensation study will take a much more robust approach compared to the standard in the public sector, consisting mostly of compensation and medical, and will include a report of new benefits and trends that have evolved from the post-pandemic economy.

The previous administration entered into a five-year contract with the Fire Union and six-year contracts with the remaining seven unions in March 2020. While there was a compensation study conducted, it was not completed and presented until July 2020, long after contracts had already been signed. The study’s focus was on establishing job descriptions, creating wage ranges for positions, and providing software to update new job descriptions.

Since then, a global pandemic hit, causing Bloomfield Township, among other municipalities, to rethink their priorities, services and workforce to better balance the needs of residents, employees, and the community at large, which is why this upcoming study intends to have a focus on benefits.

Walsh hopes that this study will allow for Bloomfield Township to go up against the private sector and bring in more people who will fill some of the most difficult positions for the township to fill, such as civil engineers and those who work in building and planning. 

The committee that reviewed the bids the township received consisted of Elizabeth Parrott, Human Resources and Benefits Administrator; Darrin Kraatz, Director of Assessing; Katie Fotherby, Senior Services Office Manager; trustee Chris Kolinski; and Walsh.