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EMT and Paramedic employees to receive $5,000 bonus

Current full-time and part-time employees are included in the bonus as well.
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Ambulance

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — EMT and paramedic new hires will receive a $5,000 bonus after the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners made the change Wednesday. 

The board also approved extending the $100 shift bonus for full-time and part-time employees until June 2022. 

Emergency services director, Rodney Cates, showed statistics and county-based research to the commissioners to emphasize the dire need the county is in for Emergency Services personnel. “We are in a crisis,” Cates said before the meeting, “We are losing talented employees because other agencies are offering them more money. This proposal is to inform all of Rockingham County of the shortage we have. We run the risk of shutting down ambulances due to not having the personnel to physically operate them because other agencies are offering compensation that we are not.” 

To address the wage gap in the research, he asked commissioners to continue to give out $100 bonuses for those who agreed to work extra shifts. Current full-time EMT and paramedic response positions will receive a $5,000 bonus. New hires will get a sign-on bonus if they finish training before June 30. Current employees will get their bonus in two $2,500 payments. The first half will come in May and the second half will come six months later. New hires will also get their sign-on bonus in two payments. They will see the first payment on their first paycheck. They will see the second payment after completing their new-hire training or after reaching their sixth-month mark with the county, whichever is later. 

“Cates came to me with a plan,” County Manager Lance Metzler said, “We have to offer competitive compensation to not [just] hire vacant positions but to keep our employees here. I’m confident this move is a step in the right direction to retain and recruit our Emergency Services staff moving forward.”

Cates mentioned the salary study during Monday’s meeting when asking the board to consider the recent decline in staffing and the current market value of EMT and Paramedic positions when making future decisions about employee compensation. 

Currently, Rockingham County is taking part in a salary study to evaluate all county positions. 

   

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