Return to Table of ContentsBy George Vlahakis
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- With the onset of a new academic year at Indiana University, the school's performance frequently is evaluated, either on the football field or basketball court, in the pages of prestigious news magazines or through friendly rivalries.
In like manner, IU has joined the ranks of leading universities nationally and in the Midwest who have turned inward to examine how fairly and equitably they treat their employees through compensation and classification systems. Other schools doing this include Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Ball State University and the universities of Alabama, Cincinnati and Louisville.
These institutions are among other clients advised by the Louisville office of William M. Mercer Inc., a human resource consulting firm with offices in more than 100 cities.
This month, IU is presenting to its clerical and technical employees the results of an effort began in mid-1995 to review and revamp their classification and compensation program. Changes are scheduled to go into effect Jan. 12, 1997, the start of the first full pay period of the new year.
While the detailed mechanics and other factors may differ, the process IU has gone through is quite similar to those undergone by its peers in academe and employers in other sectors of the economy, said Charles F. Schanie, principal and head of the higher education practice of Mercer.
"There was probably a little more job title consolidation than we would normally have, but not tremendously so," Schanie said. "Every one of these situations is unique. That doesn't necessarily make it real tough to deal with, but it does mean that we take every set of circumstances as a brand new collection of events we have to deal with."
In April 1995, IU President Myles Brand announced the beginning of the detailed review on the IU Bloomington and IU Southeast campuses. This came after the appointment of Linda Rasmussen as IU associate director of classification and compensation that March.
IU also selected Mercer, which is generally considered the leading consulting firm in compensation and benefits for higher education institutions.
IU clerical and technical employees were asked in subsequent months to complete Position Analysis Questionnaires (PAQ), which would be used to get a fair and accurate understanding of all positions and how they are performed.
More than 1,700 PAQs were returned and reviewed in detail by Mercer consultants and by a committee consisting of representatives from departments under review, Human Resources staff and representatives of the Communication Workers of America Local 4730. Members of the committee and other Human Resources personnel were trained by Mercer on how to use its methodology.
From the PAQs, data was collected about job skills and key duties within positions. Department heads and supervisors also provided information. As a result of this initial analysis, the number of job titles was reduced from more than 900 to 181.
The next step was to evaluate all 181 job titles through an evaluation process that considered these factors: knowledge and experience, problem solving and work dynamics, scope of work, interactions and communications, direction of others and working conditions.
Each title was closely examined before a final determination was made.
"We did extensive training with the committee so that they could review all of our work and assess the ratings and determine whether they felt we were on the mark," Schanie said. "There was a real effort to make sure that there was careful scrutiny of where every one of those job titles fit into the overall grading and classification framework. There was continuous comparing and contrasting of jobs in making ratings, to make sure that we were as tightly controlled in that process as we could be."
Once job evaluation was complete, the committee slotted all positions to a job. All positions were reviewed and then placed under an appropriate classification. This was done by using "benchmark PAQs."
"Every questionnaire was looked at, but in certain cases we would have what we call a template PAQ, which seemed to be one of the best representative examples of work performed in that category," Schanie explained. "Every questionnaire would be compared back to that benchmark, but in effect every questionnaire was compared to every other questionnaire that could possibly be grouped under that job title."
Committee members also looked at questionnaires to make sure that each IU clerical or technical employee was properly assigned under the correct job title, with other people doing essentially the same kind of work. Workers who disagreed with their new job classification had the right to file an appeal, and about 27 percent‹450 employees‹did so.
Schanie said this is "very typical," since many people generally believe it is in their bests interests to file an appeal to upgrade their job status. An Appeals Committee is currently meeting to consider these appeals and should complete its review by the end of October or early November.
Those who appealed the slotting of their position should receive word of the committee's decision through a letter.
"If there are any problems, they will get picked up on appeal," he said.
The final step in the process was a market analysis, or a comparison of the pay and benefits earned by IU employees to others working in similar jobs throughout the state.
Thirty-eight jobs were identified as benchmarks representing about 60 percent of IU clerical and technical employees. Data was collected from five professionally recognized sources (see Market data sources). IU wages and salaries were compared to those paid by other employers.
To see how IU compares in terms of benefits offered, Mercer completed a total compensation analysis using data from 36 major employers in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. Mercer's analysis found that IU offers better benefits than many other major employers in the region, including its generous paid-time-off and the PERF pension plans. IU's fee courtesy, which it extends to family members, also sets it apart.
Using all of this information and analysis, a new 10-grade structure was developed.
Each grade has an established minimum, a midpoint and a maximum salary. It was set up with wide ranges to allow IU "to pay different amounts to different people who perform at different levels," according to an IU video explaining the changes. "In short, this will make it possible for you to move beyond your present rate."
When both pay and benefits are considered together, IU is "awfully close to being dead-on competitive," Schanie said. The midpoints show that IU is 3 percent above average.
In short, the new grade structure will help individual employees look at their career paths, look at other career paths and perhaps make a more deliberate effort to move up in university ranks.
"The economy is just putting huge pressure on every position in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy. We are being required to learn more, do more and really put ourselves on the line in order to experience our rewards," Schanie observes. "At least there is a fairer system there for figuring out how a person can move from one point to another in the overall classification scheme."