Frequently Asked Questions
In January 2002, Human Resources asked AP, PT and CC employees to review their classification specifications and highlight up to six of the most important duties. The Compensation Advisory Committee (CAC) is using the provided information to evaluate jobs in the new compensation broadbanding system.
The following information is designed to answer questions that have surfaced as we have been going about this work.
Q. What is compensation broadbanding?
A Broadbanding is a pay structure that groups and consolidates a large number of pay grades and salary ranges into broad bands with relatively wide salary ranges, typically with 100 percent differences between minimum and maximum salaries.
Q. Can you give me an example of a band?
A. Typically there is a band for all positions whose primary duty is management. Employees in this Management band must direct the work of at least two people, have hiring and firing authority, and have discretionary power in policies and processes. Examples of jobs in this job band are Deans and Directors.
Another typical band is for positions whose primary work is involved in carrying out technical and technological functions in health, engineering, science, and other disciplines. One example of a job in this Technical job band is Computer Support Specialist.
Q. A band seems as to encompass quite a few jobs. Are bands broken into smaller units?
A. Yes, bands are broken into job groups. These are groups of jobs having the same nature of work but drawn from different labor markets.
For example, the Management job band may include Academic and Institutional job groups. The Technical job band may include Computer Support and Communications job groups.
Finally, there are levels within each job group. Levels recognize the differences in scope, skill requirements and responsibility. Usually there are three levels within a job group, but there may be as few as two and as many as five.
Q. Who made the decision to introduce broadbanding?
A. Last year, President Kirkpatrick engaged a consultant to assist with improving EMU's human resources functions. The CAC was appointed to examine the salary administration program. (See Exhibit 1 for a list of members of the CAC and the external consultants working with them.) The CAC developed a list of principles and goals for a new compensation system. The CAC looked at alternative approaches to compensation and determined that a broadbanding approach would most likely meet the principles and goals. (See Exhibit 2 for a list of those principles and goals.)
Q. What is wrong with the present system?
A. The current point-factor system groups jobs together in narrow grades based on factors that were considered important to the University in the mid-1970s when the system was installed.
Three aspects of the old system have been problematic:
- The weight of the points no longer reflects the work environment necessary to support the mission of the University.
- The job review and reclassification process is administratively burdensome and time consuming.
- Narrow salary grades tend to restrict movement and hinder recruitment and retention efforts.
In addition, over the last thirty years significant organization structure and management changes have occurred. Reviews have been conducted on an individual job basis, however, versus as part of a comprehensive organization review. From time to time, therefore, EMU should complete an institution-wide job audit like the one in process to reassess and validate classification levels from an internal equity perspective within and across divisions.
Q. Will we have grades with broadbanding?
A. No. Job band, job group, and job level replace grade.
Q. Will we still have classification specifications?
A. Yes, classification specifications provide a description of the job, and are needed to describe the general responsibilities, essential duties, supervision exercised and received, qualifications and working conditions of a job. This information is also used in performance management, employment and placement, employee development and career development.
Q. How are jobs evaluated in broadbanding?
A. Broadbanding evaluation begins with written templates describing each job band, job group and job level. The information on each classification specification is reviewed and analyzed against these templates, and the job is placed in a band, group and level.
Q. Who is evaluating?
A. The CAC. Members of the CAC have been trained in the evaluation process and are divided into three teams of four members. One member of each team is a PT employee. The consultants and the Compensation Department will review all of the evaluations for consistency across the University.
Q. What role does management have in this process? When do senior administrators see the results of the evaluations?
A. After the consultants complete their review, they will prepare lists of the initial evaluations for each department. Members of the CAC will meet with leaders to explain the process and review the initial results. Leaders will also be given templates to conduct their own assessment.
Q. Does this mean that leaders will be given the evaluation scorecard?
A. Yes, leaders will have the same information that the team used in making its decisions. This is an open, not secret, process.
Q. What if the leader disagrees with the evaluation?
A. The process is collaborative. During the meetings, leaders have the opportunity to say why they disagree. They and the CAC members are expected to discuss the reasons for their recommended evaluations and reach a consensus.
Q. If we don't have grades, how is pay determined? Do we still have minimums, midpoints and maximums?
A. Jobs are grouped into bands, which have market-driven pay ranges. Pay ranges are defined for each job group and level, based on the labor market. The lowest end of the range represents the least amount that the University believes is needed to attract and retain employees (the "minimum"). The highest end of the range is the most money the University believes is fiscally prudent to pay for the responsibilities of the job (the "maximum"). In between is the market rate range, but the presently-used description "midpoint" will disappear.
Q. What is the labor market?
A. The labor market is comprised of two variables, the geographic area used in recruiting to fill the job and the type of organization from which EMU recruits. EMU will recruit locally, regionally and nationally, depending on the nature and level of the job. The second variable is based on whether the job is one typically found only in academic instituations or is commonly found in most organizations. Where the job typically occurs affects total compensation level.
Q. Will PT jobs be included in the broadbanding system?
A. The CAC is proceeding with a design of broadbanding that includes PT jobs. As earlier noted, PT representatives are included on the CAC and on the teams evaluating jobs. Whether to implement the results for PT positions will be a discussion item during collective bargaining talks this summer.
