NAU re-grades staff positions; adopts annual process for job and salary changes
Northern Arizona University has completed a comprehensive review of staff compensation and adopted a strategy to re-grade most classified staff positions upwards to align with external markets and to establish an annual process for job reclassifications and salary adjustments.
Human Resources will change the pay grades of 234 classified staff titles to reflect market rates. These changes become effective July 1, 2005. As a result, the salaries of about 150 employees will fall below the minimum salary of the new grade when this change takes place. The university has committed $230,000 from the fiscal year 2006 budget to bring these salaries to the minimum of the new pay grade ranges.
The 150 affected employees will be notified in June of the salary adjustments, which will take effect July 1.
“We are tackling our greatest staff compensation needs first, and as future funding allows, we will look at additional compensation issues,” said NAU President John Haeger.
In addition, the university is establishing an annual process for staff reclassifications and salary adjustments, effective July 1. Currently, reclassifications and salary equity adjustments occur throughout the year, making budget planning difficult for managers. The new plan will make such changes effective at the beginning of each fiscal year.
“For the first time in many years, NAU will have a centralized and annualized process that will vastly improve the alignment of departmental needs with university priorities,” Haeger said.
Although the plan calls for reclassifications and salary equity adjustments to occur once a year, it also allows flexibility to accommodate mid-cycle requests because of major departmental changes.
Director of Human Resources Diane Verkest noted that the university has processed more than $620,000 in equity adjustments and job reclassifications for 169 classified staff and service professionals so far this year.
The current process of reclassifications and equity adjustments remains in effect through June 30, according to Verkest.
In fall 2004, Haeger charged Human Resources and the Joint Working Group for Staff Salaries with devising a compensation strategic plan for 2005-2007. The group developed a staff compensation philosophy, which has been adopted by the university. The philosophy states, in part: “Northern Arizona University recognizes that competitive compensation is the cornerstone for recruiting, retaining and motivating the type of employees needed to fulfill the university’s educational mission. To this end, the university’s compensation philosophy is to pay all categories of employees at competitive levels established by the external labor markets, considering both salary and benefits as a total compensation package.”
The philosophy statement also calls for pay levels to be administered equitably and consistently across campus.
Merit salary increases are part of the group’s recommendations, but an approval is not expected until the FY ’06 budget is determined.
Verkest said an ad hoc committee has been appointed to review anomalies that might fall outside the scope of the compensation philosophy and to study the feasibility of a performance reward program.
She also noted that Human Resources annually reviews service professional positions against external markets and will begin work this summer on a more structured compensation plan for this category of employees.
Source: Inside NAU, March 30, 2005 |
