2. How will job titles be descriptive enough to make OSU competitive in attracting the best candidates?
3. Does the plan consider the market value of titles?
5. Will each Professional Faculty classification have a pay cap or pay maximum?
7. What about compensation based on the field of expertise, not title?
8. Will this plan result in any pay cuts and title demotions?
9. Any possibility for self-support or grant funded positions to be exempt from this?
10. Is there a possibility for a wild card category for things that don’t fit the concept?
11. What are “benchmark jobs”?
12. What positions are included in the Professional Faculty Job Groupings and Compensation Project?
13. What if the minimum qualifications for a position require either a degree or years of experience?
14. Why would pay levels remain confidential?
15. Is the PDQ still up and running? Is this the way we will update our PDs from now on?
1. 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 close to 1,250 employees, OSU’s current job structure for Professional Faculty is cumbersome to manage. In addition, the current system does not provide information about our competitive position with peer institutions and employers in our local market place; it does not provide sufficient information to ensure pay equity; it does not provide the structure needed for applicable reporting requirements; and it does not identify opportunities for advancement by employees via clear career paths.
Our goal is to simplify current processes and provide 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 will enhance our ability to ensure fairness and equity within the compensation program. Finally, we are conducting 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.
2. 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 award pay based on individual qualifications and assessed performance.
3. 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. Furthermore, the Steering Committee and Project Team have not yet addressed the role of existing job titles in the evolving compensation program. As we progress in our process, that will be an area we will address.
4. 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 will simplify current processes and provide 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, we realize that some job description specifications will encompass multiple positions while others will only cover a single position.
5. Will each Professional Faculty classification have a pay cap or pay maximum?
Our new job structure and compensation program will provide clear paths for individuals to grow professionally and be compensated fairly in support of the compensation philosophy. Market analysis will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the most current ranges for our positions. As yet, we have not determined the structure of salary ranges.
6. After going through the benchmarking and other comparisons, what happens to individual employees whose job description specifications and salary range is less than what the individual is currently being paid?
The Project Team and Steering Committee have not yet finalized policy and practices relating to plan administration but it has been decided that in no case will any current professional faculty member suffer a pay cut as a result of the implementation of the program.
7. What about compensation based on the field of expertise, not title?
The system will allow 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 content 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.
8. Will this plan result in any pay cuts and title demotions?
OSU has committed to using this program as a tool to support the recruitment and retention of a diverse, high-quality workforce to fulfill the mission of the University. The program will not result in pay cuts or demotions.
9. Any possibility for self-support or grant funded positions to be exempt from this?
For fairness and equity, all Professional Faculty will be included in the OSU Professional Faculty Job Groupings and Compensation Program.
10. Is there a possibility for a wild card category for things that don’t fit the concept?
We are working to fit all of the roles covered through this project into a job family; there will not be a “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.
11. 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.
12. What positions are included in the Professional Faculty Job Groupings and Compensation Project?
ROTC personnel are C9XXXX, and are listed as “courtesy appointments” in our system; therefore those positions are not included. In addition, academic administrators, most of whom have ranked positions, are not included either.
Only those unrepresented, non-ranked, positions with a position number starting with C1XXXX will be included in the project at this time.
13. What if the minimum qualifications for a position require either a degree or years of experience?
Please mark both within the Education and Work Experience Sections; however we would like you to indicate if it is an either/or situation in the section allowing comments.
14. Why would pay levels 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 for roles within each job family will be openly communicated.
15. Is the PDQ still up and running? Is this the way we will update our PDs from now on?
The questionnaire will be used to group similar positions together within job category levels and job profiles. The job profiles will be used to determine benchmark positions and conduct market analysis.
It is our hope that as we move forward, the PDQ will assist in updating existing descriptions found in PeopleAdmin; however, the process and timeline will be determined at a later time.
The Position Description Questionnaire is not available for submission at this point in the process.
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