All Tauranga City Council staff to get 4 per cent pay bump, five weeks leave

Tauranga Council buildings.

Changes to Tauranga City Council's salary budget will see a minimum salary increase of four per cent for all staff.

A written statement issued by council says the minimum salary of any full-time employee will increase to $55,000 – more than 10 per cent above the current living wage, which increases to $49,000 later this year.

There will also be additional increases as required to bring people to the correct point in the salary range for their job grade.

Changes also included a minimum of five weeks annual leave for all staff - regardless of position and service.

The salary budget increase comes following a review of council's remuneration strategy designed to assist recruitment and retention of quality staff, council said.

Council had spent several years reviewing its remuneration strategy, with input from the Public Service Association (PSA) and external remuneration professionals.

"The aims of the review were to increase the transparency of decisions affecting remuneration, ensure that staff are paid fairly and that pay rates are competitive," council said.

Commission chair Anne Tolley said the review and resulting salary increases would play a crucial role in the council's ability to deliver on the city's Long-term Plan.

"Over the next nine years, we will deliver the most ambitious Long-term Plan this city has ever seen. We have a huge amount of work ahead of us to ensure this community gets the city it deserves.

"We need to ensure we can retain and attract the right people, with the right skills, experience and commitment to do the mahi," she said.

Tolley said council was competing with businesses from around New Zealand, and the rest of the world, to attract and keep talent.

"Competitive remuneration is essential in making the council an attractive place to work, and the review has shown we have lost some ground in that regard."

As part of the review, all jobs were evaluated externally to ensure the remuneration for each job was appropriate.

The council would also change the way the salary range for each job grade is calculated. which aimed to reduce the disparity between public and private sector salaries.

Council said changes would be introduced through this year's annual salary review.

An additional eight per cent had been budgeted through the Annual Plan to fund the salary increases and an increase in the council's annual leave provision.

Extra funding had also been budgeted for new roles which were required to deliver the long-term plan work programme.