CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles anticipates it will be able to pay a shift differential for employees who staff the agency’s regional offices in Kanawha City and Martinsburg after hours on weekdays and on Saturday morning.
“What we’ve run into in these two offices is a high turnover in staff,” said Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Pat Reed. “It’s because of the late evenings and the Saturday work because they are both very busy offices.”
The two locations are open until 6 p.m. on weekdays and on Saturdays until noon. But that’s rarely the time employees in those offices get to leave according to Reed. The DMV policy is not to turn away anyone who was there before closing time, and it often takes as long as an hour to finish up those waiting for vehicle services.
The shift differential will be $5 more per hour on weekdays after 5 p.m. and all hours on Saturday. Reed says although it would increase the payroll, it will actually be a cost savings to the agency with a more stable staff.
“We hire a new employee and it averages about $3,500 to train that new employee and then they leave. So we do it again,” Reed said. “This way we’ll have continuity in our staff and we won’t have to retrain as many times if we can retain staff there.”
The new pay differential is being programed into the wvOasis computer system and being tested. Reed expects the shift differential to start in September.