The
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles has been raising pay for more than half of its employees since August, based on a study by the same international consulting firm that is now helping
Gov. Glenn Youngkin 's administration review the salary structure for classified state employees. Project Upshift began after the department commissioned a study more than a year ago by
Deloitte , a London-based accounting and consulting company, to re-evaluate the salaries it pays to employees, especially those in the agency's 76 customer service centers, to reduce a high turnover rate for its staff. "We had an unsustainable level of turnover," said DMV Commissioner Gerald Lackey, who estimated that the agency was losing frontline workers at a rate of 35% to 46% per month before the pay raises began in August.
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Lackey, whom Youngkin appointed in March 2023, said people spraying vehicles at a nearby car wash were making more money per hour than people at the front counter of DMV's headquarters at 2300 W. Broad St. in Richmond. "By and large, the biggest contributing factor was we didn't have competitive wages," he said in an interview. The agency estimates that 60% of its roughly 2,000 employees are getting a boost in salaries to bring them at least to the market minimum, while not reducing the salaries of people who earn more than the market minimum for their position. As a result, he said turnover in September dropped to 1.5% and has stayed there. Some DMV employees say privately that the review has not considered years of service and expertise, so those workers have been left out. "Most of the people who are affected by the lack of a raise are older people," said one longtime DMV employee, who asked not to be identified. Lackey said the DMV will address those issues in a second phase over the next 12 months to classify employees as "emerging, seasoned and expert," based on 13 factors for determining pay, including tenure and job experience. He acknowledged concerns expressed to him by some longtime employees, but said he had assured them that the agency would address pay for more experienced workers in the next phase. "I've had zero grievances," he said. Lackey said the current pay initiative, which will be completed this month, focuses on employees "making below the minimum for their roles." He said the DMV is paying for the initiative with about $10.6 million in annual operating savings from cost-saving measures that employees helped to identify. He said the agency paid Deloitte about $1 million for the study. The pay raises are expected to cost about $9 million a year. The DMV funds its operations with money that it collects through a variety of user fees, not general tax funds appropriated in the state budget.
Lawmakers surprised
Still, the initiative came as a surprise this week to the General Assembly money committees, which also appropriate non-general fund money to state agencies and monitor how they spend it. The House Appropriations and Senate Finance & Appropriations committees said they were unaware of the DMV project until the Richmond Times-Dispatch asked about it in recent days. "We definitely should have our eyes on it," said Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee and serves on the Senate Finance subcommittee for transportation with oversight of the DMV. The Department of Human Resource Management is responsible for overseeing pay and benefits for about 57,000 classified employees, which does not include faculty and staff at public colleges and universities. It just notified legislators that it is working in partnership with Deloitte to review the state's salary structure, which is based on pay bands adopted about 25 years ago. Director Janet Lawson told the House Appropriations subcommittee on compensation and retirement on Monday that the initiative would identify ways to align state employee compensation with "market best practice" to ensure that salaries are comparable to those "for employees in the private sector of the commonwealth in similar occupations." In an interview on Friday, Lawson called the current pay structure "outdated" and said she has asked Deloitte to re-evaluate the salary bands "to see what's in the best interest of the state's workforce." She said she had recommended Deloitte to DMV before it launched the initiative in November 2023. Del. Rod Willett, D-Henrico, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee and represents "a ton of state employees" in his Richmond-area district, initially didn't know about the project, but he subsequently spoke to DMV officials about the initiative. "I applaud DMV for working to get in front of the attrition issue in their customer service area," Willett said Friday. "They have put together a comprehensive plan and communicated with all staff. There was no need to inform the money committees, given their non-general fund structure, but they did coordinate with DHRM," the Department of Human Resource Management. Lackey said the annual savings that are paying for the raises were not part of the changes in DMV operations Youngkin's chief transformation officer, then Eric Moeller, pushed after the COVID-19 pandemic. The DMV came under heavy criticism from the public and some legislators of both parties when it closed its customer service centers to walk-in traffic during the pandemic and required customers to make appointments to avoid waiting in crowds for service. Youngkin created the chief transformation office immediately after he was inaugurated three years ago. Just before the inauguration, longtime commissioner Rick Holcomb retired after 19 years and service under five governors, beginning with Gov. George Allen. The governor's first pick to replace Holcomb was Peter Lacy, former head of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, but Youngkin rescinded the offer in May 2022 after an Indianapolis newspaper reported that Lacy had resigned from his job there the day after appearing to be drunk at an executive meeting. Linda Ford, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer, served as interim commissioner until Youngkin appointed Lackey, a former efficiency executive at GAF, a global roofing company, and a former business efficiency executive at McKinsey & Co., the same global business management consulting company where Moeller had worked. Lackey said the agency distributed the Deloitte study to employees in August and outlined the phases of adjusting salaries for those who earned less than the private market minimums for comparable jobs. "Although as a state agency we may never be able to pay at the high end of what the private sector does, we do want to take care of you as best we can through compensation and our other benefits," a DMV fact sheet about the initiative stated in August. The department started in August with employees at customer service centers, law enforcement and its call center - about half of DMV staff. The next month, the initiative completed review of law enforcement, truck weigh stations and its customer service management office. In October, it reviewed information technology and legal affairs. It moved to staff at its Richmond headquarters and support divisions, beginning in November and continuing through the end of this month. No matter when it made the decision, DMV said the pay raises would be retroactive to Aug. 25. The department said it based its decision on salary research to establish market pay levels for each position. "If our research shows you are under-compensated, then we aim to make the necessary adjustments through January 2025," the Project Upshift fact sheet stated. "Although we are limited by our budget, we plan to be sure everyone is at least in line with the market minimums. In other words, we will adjust pay to be minimally comparable to like jobs in the private sector." The fact sheet added: "If you appear to be compensated above the market, we will not be reducing your compensation." The initiative has evaluated more than pay levels. It also has been addressing "clarity around job expectations," by re-evaluating and updating job descriptions, and establishing requirements for job performance. "You don't just give people more money," Lackey said. "You have to rewrite their job descriptions." DMV also is using the initiative to improve "paths for career advancement." Lackey said the results justify the expense. "They vote with their feet," he said, "and only 1.5% of them are walking out the door."
From the Archives: The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
The DMV
12-14-1948 (cutline): D.M.V. gets new look--A painter (left) is shown applying finishing touches to one of two state seals at the main entrance of the Division of Motor Vehicles building, in the 2200 block of West Broad St. The building, formerly a shoe factory and mail order house, was purchased last year by the State and converted to office use. The DMV
10-28-1966 (cutline): $1 million addition at DMV headquarters was finished recently. The DMV
01-28-1955 (cutline): The eyes have it--Good eyes are necessity for good driving, according to the Division of Motor Vehicles, so prospective drivers have to take an eye test, too. Examiner L.R. Hudson rates Nicky DesChamps' sight. The DMV
03-16-1959 (cutline): Division of Motor Vehicles staff ready for onslaught. The DMV
03-15-1962 (cutline): Several hundred motorists surged into the Division of Motor Vehicles office at 2220 West Broad St. yesterday morning when the doors opened at 8:30 for the sale of 1962 auto license plates. The new license tags--white numerals on a black background--also went on sale at 14 sub-agencies in the Richmond area.Inasmuch as the April 15 deadline for using 1961 plates is on a Sunday, the time limit for this use has been extended to midnight April 16, DMV officials said. The first-day rush at the DMV headquarters was "just about normal," officials there said. Throughout the day there was a steady flow of buyers. DMV officials said they will not know until today how many plates were sold yesterday. The DMV
04-15-1966 (cutline): Approximately 100 persons were on hand to purchase 1966 motor vehicle license tags at Division of Motor Vehicles headquarters when they opened here today. The DMV
01-15-1972 (cutline): Exterior view of the Division of Motor Vehicles building on West Broad Street. The DMV
08-09-1983 (cutline): Drivers get licenses at DMV office in Richmond. The DMV
08-21-1980 (cutline): DMV Employees--Field representatives Charles W. Hopper, Dot Adams, Mary Dorman and Agnes Watkins (from left) model the various red, white and blue Division of Motor Vehicles uniforms. The DMV
02-04-1971 (cutline): Tom Rutledge (left) operates one of two computers at the Division of Motor Vehicles as Charles Emswiler, data processing director, looks on. The D.M.V. has one of the largest computer set-ups in the state. The DMV
02-04-1971 (cutline): Tom Rutledge (left) operates one of two computers at the Division of Motor Vehicles as Charles Emswiler, data processing director, looks on. The D.M.V. has one of the largest computer set-ups in the state. The DMV
07-25-1970 (cutline): Mrs. Linda Neil Mangum, key punch operator, looks over the 1443 printer as it prints completed titles. The DMV
07-27-1970 (cutline): Computers are heart of new DMV record system. Mrs. Sandra Cramer at console of 360-50 model. The DMV
The DMV
07-25-1970 (cutline): Mrs. Clifton Carpenter is tape librarian at D.M.V. She readies disc for computer data files. The DMV
03-15-1969 (cutline): License plate buyers stand first in line. Arriving before midnight were W.H.Vaughan of Galax (left), Charles Clark of Woodbridge. The DMV
08-09-1978 (cutline): The new headquarters for the Division of Motor Vehicles has taken on a glassy look now that many of the windows have been installed in the building at the corner of West Broad Street and DMV Drive. The $13 million building is scheduled for completion in early 1979, a DMV spokesman said today. The DMV
09-06-1977 (cutline): Contractors for the seven-story Division of Motor Vehicles headquarters near the present DMV offices are driving toward their goal of having the building completed by October next year. The $13 million structure, being built by Basic Construction Co., will replace the present DMV headquarters at 2220 W. Broad, a building that was constructed in 1906 as a shoe factory. Erection of streel for the new headquarters began this month and should be finished by November, officials said. The DMV
10-18-1974 (cutline): Comissioner Vern L. Hill outlines some aspects of the new $16.5 million Division of Motor Vehicles headquarters on a model of the seven-story facility for DMV employees Judy Smith (center) and Diane Davis, prior to a ceremony today marking the dedication of the building site. Wayne A. Whitham, Virginia secretary of transportation and public safety, was main speaker at the dedication, substituting for Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr., who still is suffering from a slight sinus infection. Construction on the 18-acre West Broad Street site will begin in July 1975 with completion scheduled in December 1977. The DMV
05-05-1975 (cutline): Mrs. Nora Nay attached transmitter to car. Device transmits test information to control panel. The DMV
09-18-1947 (cutline): Site chosen for state division of motor vehicles. The DMV
02-04-1965: First picture of some of 800 employees of D.M.V., most of whom had access to all traces of a man's records during the old system. The DMV
02-03-1972 (cutline): Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles has driver license examining station in former restaurant. The DMV
03-16-1969: Line at D.M.V. is response to auto tags put on sale. The DMV
02-12-1953 (cutline): More than 1,000,000 license plate applications are places in destination slots for bulk mailing from D.M.V. The DMV
06-19-1961 (cutline): Mrs. Clara D. Stitzer photographs driving permit renewal notces. J.B Warfield, DMV Bureau Director, considers program successful.
