The key to providing exceptional services is having excellent employees. But like many other organizations, the City of Lenexa has found it difficult to attract and retain staff over the last few years. New enhancements to pay and benefits are designed to bring in great new employees and keep them on the job.

Compensation changes

At the beginning of 2022, the City had a historic 50 vacant full-time positions. Most of those were in entry-level positions, which are critical to providing day-to-day services like public safety; parks, streets and stormwater maintenance; and pool lifeguards.

A pay and benefits study completed in late 2021 revealed that inflation and economic factors had led comparable public organizations in our area to significantly increase their wages since Lenexa’s last pay study in 2018. The new study concluded that employee pay had fallen behind, making it difficult to recruit and retain staff in such a competitive market.

In February 2022, several changes were made to Lenexa’s compensation plan based on the pay study:

• Minimum pay for full-time, non-safety employees increased to $15.41 per hour.
• Minimum pay for new police officers increased to $51,116, and minimum firefighter pay increased to $46,751.
• Throughout the City’s pay plan, pay went up 5.5% for non-safety employees and 3 to 16% for public safety employees.
• Part-time employee pay increased between $.50 and $6.55 per hour.

Benefit changes

The City of Lenexa has long offered an extremely competitive benefits package to attract the best public employees possible. But a study of the benefits offered by similar organizations in 2021 showed that Lenexa’ benefits had also fallen behind these comparators in a few areas.

At the May 2 City Council meeting, Governing Body members reviewed a slate of new benefit enhancements proposed to both appeal to new hires and keep great employees with the organization.

• Increased vacation accrual based on prior service and increased personal leave in the first year of employment will help new employees balance work and personal time.
• Free Rec Center memberships for employees and discounted memberships for family members will complement the City’s already strong health and wellness benefits.
• Six weeks of full paid parental leave will be available to employee parents, per birth or adoption. Optional leave is available after this period up to a total of 12 weeks.
• The bonus paid to current employees who refer successful candidates for city employment was doubled from $500 to $1,000
• Additional improvements were made to bereavement leave and retirement payout for sick leave.

Now accepting applications

Anyone interested in taking advantage of the City of Lenexa’s newly enhanced compensation and benefits packages can check out open positions and apply at Lenexa.com/Jobs. We’re hiring for a number of entry level positions including maintenance workers in our Parks, Street and Stormwater divisions; custodial positions; police officers; public service officers and dispatchers.

Jobseekers who aren’t sure which position would be the best fit for them can fill out a general application. Our Human Resources professionals will look at each applicant’s skills and experience and analyze which open positions would best suit them.