Compensation and Classification
SPO’s Compensation and Classification unit is responsible for the design and development of the classified service pay system and providing consultation, analysis, and technical support on compensation issues. This includes:
- Managing compensation issues by review of pay schedules and ranges and comparisons to other jobs and positions.
- Developing and maintaining job classification descriptions and making recommendations for classification and compensation issues.
- Evaluating job classifications utilizing a market-based approach to Job Evaluation.
- Managing the allocation of positions to the appropriate job title by virtue of authority delegated from the State Personnel Board rules.
- Preparing job classification studies for submission to the State Personnel Board.
- Advising managers and employees regarding the New Mexico classified service system’s classification and compensation, policies, rules and structure.
- Develop and report on human resource system metrics.
- Coordinating the State Personnel Office Annual Classification Report and the Annual Compensation Report.
What is NM SPO's compensation philosophy?
The State of New Mexico strives to deliver a total rewards program comprised of competitive base pay, benefits, and retirement programs that effectively attracts, retains, and rewards a high performing, diverse workforce to deliver quality services that reflect the mission and objectives of the State Government in a fiscally responsible manner.
The State Personnel Office’s is responsible for the administration, oversight, and overall maintenance of the framework of the classified service pay system as well as providing consultation, analysis, and support on compensation issues in order to ensure the needs of the State are met in response to market demands.
The State Personnel Office’s will further set State-wide overarching compensation rules and guidelines, leaving Agencies to make specific compensation policy on an employee level at their discretion and administer their compensation programs for their own employees in conformance with SPO Board Rule. The State aims to promote an employee-first focus while supporting Agency missions and outcomes.
The State of New Mexico competes for labor and talent at regional and local levels. To effectively recruit in diverse labor markets, retain its current workforce, and facilitate career development, the State seeks to provide compensation packages for all employee levels and positions that are market competitive.
The State recognizes it may not always be possible to compensate employees at levels commensurate with the private sector. However, it is the State of New Mexico’s goal to target a competitive pay position at the 50th percentile of the appropriate regional or local target market. In addition to defining market on a geographic basis, the State defines “market” as other state and local governments and private sector companies where employees perform similar duties and carry similar responsibilities.
Overall, the State of New Mexico’s total rewards program is designed to:
- Assist the State in attracting talent while preserving internal alignment and equity,
- Maintain a salary structure that is competitive with the market median (i.e., 50th percentile) of the public and private sector within the State of New Mexico and surrounding States in the Southwest,
- Motivate and retain employees by striving to pay employees in accordance with individual performance, and
- Support State leadership in delivering core services for constituents through state priorities.
Based on this philosophy, the State Personnel Office’s must recognize, accommodate, and support the Agencies’ differences in organizational structures and missions; ensure that comparable jobs within different Agencies are valued with similar methodologies when assigned to the same classification across the State; promote employee focus on Agency missions and outcomes; be market responsive and fiscally responsible; and effectively communicate pay program decisions to the workforce.
What is a job evaluation?
The Compensation and Classification unit facilitates the Job Evaluation Committee, which consists of state employees from a variety of agencies. Evaluations are based on the degree to which jobs compare to the relative market. The committee will review market-based analysis and based on the results of the review; jobs are assigned to the appropriate pay band in the classified salary structure.