Classification

A classification study involves a review of the university’s non-faculty positions to determine the proper grouping or allocation of jobs into classifications.  It also allows us to update all of our job descriptions.  The analysis is based on a number of factors including job duties, qualifications, accountability, the impact of the job and others.  The process also involves defining classification “levels.”  For job families that have many positions like administrative assistants, we should end up with multiple levels like Admin Assistant 1, Admin Assistant 2 etc.  This helps us demonstrate a logical career path.

Over time, many job descriptions and our classification and compensation structure have moved out of alignment.  In fact, the classification system for FLSA exempt staff (AKA NFE, Non-Faculty Exempt) was removed about six years ago.  One issue is that we have too many job titles that are “in their own classification” making managing our class system and reclassifications more difficult to maintain both internal and external equity.

A job classification is a generalized set of duties and responsibilities.  While no two people do exactly the same thing in their positions, two people in the same classification generally do work at the same level and in some cases, the same type of work.    Positions within particular classifications wind up in the same grade and range resulting in pay equity. 

These factors will be developed and refined during the early part of the process.  Typically, they include the level of responsibility, decisions made, impact of a position, minimum qualifications, type of work performed and more.  These factors are developed based on feedback given to Sibson Consulting in October and further vetting with University leaders.  Check back in November for an update.

• For classified staff, there are hundreds of job titles/classifications with one or a few individuals in them.
• The classification system was removed for FLSA exempt staff, also known as NFE or Non Faculty Exempt
• Makes managing the class systems almost impossible to do fairly, defensibly, and equitable
• Makes comparing our wages to external markets difficult or impossible – something we want to do with a both reliability and validity.
• Creates inequities between individuals performing similar work at different classification levels and pay rates.

• Create a classification system that will group positions performing work at similar levels.
• The subsequent compensation study will allow us to fairly evaluate our compensation levels compared to relevant labor markets and put a plan in place to make adjustments and improvements in the coming years with respect to both external and internal equity and the University’s compensation philosophy.
• Provide the opportunity to clean up a large number of conflicting and confusing policies and processes and write better, more understandable procedures – hopefully simplifying wherever possible which in turn should speed up reclass or market study situations.
• Leave us with updated job descriptions better reflecting work actually performed.
• The Compensation study will tell us where we stand in relation to our relevant labor markets and allow the university to put a multi-year plan in place to make adjustments based on both external labor markets and internal equity.
• Help us recruit and retain professional talent and in some cases, create a logical career path within a particular type of work.
• The university community has been asking for review of many of our administrative processes to ultimately help make the business of each of our departments more efficient and effective.

Too many job titles mean finer and finer distinctions between jobs.  The Hay point system has been quickly falling out of favor with higher education and state government over the last ten years because it can easily be manipulated.  In both these cases, we are left with greater inequities between positions meaning we have too many cases of two people performing very similar levels of work while classified and paid quite differently.  The class study will help fix this.

Job families are grouping of similar type jobs.  Examples include financial, administrative support, information technology, etc.  There are often multiple job series with levels of positions within each job family, sometimes differentiated by numbers e.g. admin assistant 1, 2, 3 etc.

No. Reclassifications occur when duties and responsibilities have been added to a position and an evaluation is necessary to determine if the revised position is in a different classification within the same system.  In this study, we will have a whole new system and will focus on the work an employee currently performs.

Workload and an individual’s work performance are not part of this process.  It also does not address duties that are performed occasionally.  Typically, if a duty does not consume about 5% of an employee’s time (over a course of a year), it will not impact the classification level.

No. This study is focused on classified and FLSA exempt non-faculty positions. 

Sibson Consulting will conduct this study with the assistance of the Classification and Compensation Task Force and the corresponding Leadership Review team.  Sibson is a Human Resources consulting firm that is nationally recognized in Higher Education.

The Class and Comp Task force members (names on our website) act as sponsors and champions of the study, provide the consultants with institutional knowledge and perspective, provide insight into the program design and implementations, react to and provide feedback on recommendations and advise on program communications.  

This study has four phases with an implementation date of July 1, 2013.  This is an aggressive timeline so we can expect to have very short windows and time frames for the tasks like the position description questionnaire completion and review.

No.  This study is focused on classified and FLSA exempt non-faculty positions which are board-appointed (including those temporarily funded).  Temporary staff, formerly called “irregular help” are not part of this study. 

Yes, and the Provost by nature of their administrative roles. 

The Class and Comp Task force members act as sponsors and champions of the study, provide the consultants with institutional knowledge and perspective, provide insight into the program design and implementations, react to and provide feedback on recommendations and advise on program communications.  

The first is the supervisor review of the PDQ.  Some departments will have deeper levels of review to ensure consistency across a department.   Sibson Consulting, through the benchmarking process will also compare jobs and look for major differences between current job titles and duties.  When this happens, HR will work with the employee and supervisor.

Eventually, there will be drafts of the new classifications which will be vetted with the appropriate levels of leadership, management and supervision.  This is another chance to catch positions that may be incorrectly placed based on the deeper understanding of jobs that each department has.

In the end, there will be an appeal process for individuals who believe their positions have been incorrectly classified.

Not as many of us understand it.  For some types of position like administrative assistants, there may be multiple levels which help demonstrate a career progression.  Depending on how the accompanying policies are created, one would typically have to either go through the reclassification process or apply for jobs at the higher level.