The problem with salary studies

To the editor:

Your Tuesday editorial, on comparing public-sector pay to the private sector's, is always an urgent subject. But somehow most of these studies omit a significant factor in understanding pay scales. Your editorial, unfortunately, appears to be in this category.

While I am not familiar with the city of Las Vegas' contract to hire a consulting firm for this study, I have had the experience of serving on a federal-state joint committee to compare public and private pay scales for the same job.

First, we found that no two people can really agree by studying most job sheets as to whether they are "comparable," but that was expected, so subcommittees had to come to agreements on categorizing job descriptions as comparable or worthy of the same pay.

The second discovery we made was much more significant. Nearly all government job sheets were inflated, describing duties and responsibilities not performed by the job holder. This was found at federal, state and local jurisdictions. Why is that?

Nearly all jurisdictions make it practically impossible to promote someone for being better at his job than others. So, instead, there are bonuses, in-grade pay increases, etc., but not promotion to the next grade.

So when a manager wants to promote someone, he or she revises the employee's job sheet to add duties or responsibilities that may or may not exist.

This usually works with the personnel specialist who approves job sheets. When that employee leaves the job, the job sheet remains -- it is not lowered back to where it was for the average employee expected to fill it. This would explain the reason for nearly all job sheet inflation calling for pay beyond the actual work.

To a smaller extent, this was found in private industry, too. There is an inherent conflict between personnel classification and the manager's desire to motivate employees with better pay. Personnel specialists want to comply with the enterprise's rules and policies, while the program manager is interested in furthering the success of his entity. The manager usually wins because it is hard for an outsider to detect and show new duties and responsibilities are not quite there -- and besides, the manager is usually someone much more important in the organization than the personnel specialist and his supervisor.

My point is that most of these comparability studies are done at a desk, using misleading basic data from inflated job sheets that do not reflect the actual work done for the pay received. So how can one expect the end data or study results to be reliable?

Herman Gordon

LAS VEGAS

Inspiring article

To the editor:

I was very pleased to see and read your Monday article about the Pakistani women who have been tortured and abused, causing lifelong limitations but inspiring them to bring some peace and hope ("Burned & Beautiful"). It was a very worthwhile front-page focus. Thank you very much for printing this remarkable story.

Clarice Wilber

LAS VEGAS

Supporting students

To the editor:

As a student in the Clark Country School District, I am extremely concerned about school budget cuts. I participate in several school activities such as the school newspaper and the speech and debate team. Fundraising is nothing new in extracurriculars, but this year I was devastated to hear that every cent would have to come from me and my peers.

So my request to the adults of Las Vegas is this: Please, please, please contribute to fund-raising efforts. If you see a group of teenagers offering a car wash on the corner, give your vehicle a treat and get it cleaned. Even if you don't want those extra calories, buy a box of cookie dough.

Or, better yet, just donate to a school.

Your generosity will go a long way in educating and providing for this city's youth.

Chanelle Bessette

LAS VEGAS

Poker and smoking

To the editor:

In Tuesday's newspaper, Todd DeRemer, vice president of casino operations at the Excalibur, was quoted as saying, "In the past three years, interest in poker has declined significantly at the Excalibur. We have tried to figure out how to make the room successful and to fit our customer."

Smoking isn't allowed in most poker rooms. So many people, myself included, wager our money elsewhere. Simple answer.

Jeff Williams

HENDERSON