Frequently Asked Questions Compensation Program

FAQ are grouped into 4 categories:

 


 

Structure

What are the steps involved if an employee does not believe their position is in the appropriate category?  What is the review process?

Employees or supervisors may request a review of their assignment into the job category framework and salary structure by contacting their Business Center Human Resources to initiate a position description update and review of the position in the structure. Business Center Human Resources will then forward the updated position description to Classification and Compensation in the Office of Human Resources to identify placement in the structure.

Who was involved in the subject matter expert conversations?

Over 500 Professional and Academic Faculty managers, Deans, Department heads and individual contributors representing every Job Family served as subject matter experts during the leveling and benchmarking sessions.

How were jobs that have a combination of duties in different job families addressed?

Positions that cross over into various job families, or that have a hybrid of responsibilities, are addressed by analyzing the PDQ or Position Description to identify the majority of responsibilities or the duties that are most difficult to recruit for.  Adjustment factors are then applied to take into consideration the other responsibilities. 

How is the university going to address the supervisors who do not give regular performance evaluations, or who don’t provide an opportunity to receive merit increases?

The university is continuing to address this issue with the EvalS project. It is currently in place for all Classified employees, and is being developed for Professional Faculty employees.

Are any departments or positions exempt from participating in the new Professional Faculty Job Framework and Compensation Program?

All OSU departments participate in the Professional Faculty Job Framework and Compensation Program. 

8. What are the problems associated with having a multitude of professional faculty titles?  Have other solutions been explored?

With approximately 955 distinct job titles for over 1,400 employees, OSU’s current job structure for Professional Faculty is cumbersome to manage.  The previous system did not provide information about our competitive position with peer institutions and employers in our local market place; it did not provide sufficient information to ensure pay equity; it did not provide the structure needed for applicable reporting requirements; and it did not identify opportunities for advancement by employees via clear career paths.

Our new program simplifies processes and provides a framework for our jobs and our pay structure.  The objective is to provide clarity for Professional Faculty positions around pay ranges for position and provide a clear career path within each job family.  In addition, it enhances our ability to ensure fairness and equity within the compensation program. Finally, we conducted a market study to ensure our program is competitive when compared to other higher education institutions and other markets in which we compete for talent.

9. How will job titles be descriptive enough to make OSU competitive in attracting the best candidates?

Job families are a function of grouping for ease of administration. The families do not determine job titles, nor do they determine the level of pay offered to the roles within them. Instead, individual positions’ job scope and responsibilities will determine the competitive pay practice for any given role. Flexibility around target pay for a given job will allow OSU to attract the very best talent into key positions and provide a structure for pay based on individual qualifications and performance. 

10. Does the plan consider the market value of titles?

We believe that the responsibilities of a role should drive its title.  A market study is a critical part of this project.  The titles for roles in our job families will be informed by the practices of peer institutions and employers in our market place.  The position profile titles are used as a system title to identify placement in the job category framework and salary structure.  The job title remains the working title of the position and is used to communicate in emails, on business cards and to internal and external stakeholders.

11. How will the university avoid losing opportunities by limitations in flexibility around specific descriptions?  How do we value those with diverse educational and professional experience?

OSU's Professional Faculty compensation program is designed to support the recruitment and retention of a diverse, high-quality workforce to fulfill the mission of the University.  To accomplish this vision, we are developing job description specifications that encompass the job responsibilities and experiences required to perform the position.  By doing this work, we have simplified processes and provided a framework for our jobs and our pay structure.   At the same time, we respect and want to maintain the specialized nature of what makes OSU such a special place to work.  This will require some flexibility in certain areas of the program.  For example, some position profiles encompass multiple positions while others may only cover a single position.

13. Is there a wild card category for positions that don’t fit the structure?

All of the positions at OSU are assigned to a job family; there is no “catch-all” or “wild card” category. It is important to note that job titles are not driven by job families, but by role, scope of work, and job responsibilities.

Salary

Does this program address salary compression?

This program provides a job category framework and salary structure to identify professional faculty positions across campus and a corresponding salary grade tied to the external market.  Tools to facilitate managing pay within a grade are provided on this website including training available under Communication Archives.  These tools and trainings are provided to facilitate colleges, departments and units in addressing compensation related decisions including salary compression.

Why would individual pay rates remain confidential?

Oregon State University complies with the Oregon Public Records Law by providing a report that reveals public employee salaries.  That document can be obtained by contacting the OSU Library.  OSU Business Center Human Resource and Central Human Resource departments will not publish employee salary information.  In our commitment to transparency, the pay ranges associated with position profiles within each job family are available on this website.

What about compensation based on the field of expertise, not title?

The system allows for differences based upon discipline, e.g. Finance compared with Human Resources or Facilities Management. However, a Business Manager in one College may not be differentiated in the salary structure from a Business Manager in another College unless there are differences in job responsibilities and role. It is likely that there will be positions with the same working title in different pay ranges based upon the differences in roles and responsibilities.

What comparators were used to identify salary ranges?  How were salary rates determined?

The compensation comparators designated by a local, regional or national focus can be located on the project website.  The salary grades were mathematically determined based upon a blended salary structure model with the midpoints set at market median. 

Does funding source have any bearing on how jobs are compensated?

The salary structure and grades assigned to position profiles were based on knowledge and skills; scope of responsibilities and impact.  Funding source is not considered in the determination of appropriate salary range assigned to a position.

Will there be some way for our compensation program to account for positions that are located in a geographic region with a significantly higher cost of living? 

No, not at this time.

How often will the data be updated?

There will be biennial reviews of the overall salary structure as well as salary grades by applying aging techniques as well as collecting and analyzing market data for comparable jobs within respective markets.

Benchmark

What are “benchmark jobs”?

Benchmark jobs are those that have a substantial portion of their work that is comparable to positions found at other higher education institutions or other organizations. This allows us to compare the pay for a given job.

What was the proportion of all jobs that we received benchmark data for?

We received benchmark data for 65% of the overall population.  All positions were compared to benchmarks and leveled using comparison factors including knowledge and skills, scope of responsibilities and range of impact.

What are appropriate talent markets?

Please review Benchmark Process and Benchmarking Scope Cuts for detailed information on benchmarking scope cuts and peer universities used in the process.

Is benchmarking based on the job summary or the job title?

Benchmarking matches were based on the comparison of the position profile summary with the position summaries provided by market survey jobs.

Administrative Guidelines

What will happen if someone is determined to be over-paid?

The University aspires to pay all employees within the range associated with their job’s salary grade so that no one is paid below the minimum or above the maximum. However, no individual’s salary will be reduced if he or she is currently paid above the assigned salary range for their position.

If professional faculty holds no rank then what do you mean by promotion?

The Professional Faculty Job Grouping and Compensation Program Administrative Guidelines defines promotion as taking on greater responsibilities by changing a current position to a position profile that is assigned to a higher salary grade.

If someone returns to professional faculty from professorial what will be the process to making sure they are leveled/compensated correctly?

When a position is established, the Business Center Human Resources will work with the department to review the position and identify the proper placement in the job category framework and salary structure.