Author: Sara McIntyre

The Human Resources front office lobby will temporarily close to all non-scheduled walk-in traffic Monday-Tuesday, Nov. 1-2. Customers who have a scheduled appointment with an HR team member will be met in the  HR vestibule at their scheduled time.

To make an in-person appointment with an HR team member, please contact HR.ServiceCenter@wichita.edu.

In response to the presidential announcement Oct. 7, Human Resources has created a Presidential Announcement Bonus and Paid Leave Days Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. The page provides employees and leaders a reference guide to help answer questions about the announced bonus and additional personal days.

The cornerstone of the workforce Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan is the implementation of a compensation program that is transparent, market-based and administered in a consistent manner.

As part of this implementation, Human Resources has completed an external market review of all jobs at the university and has created an individualized market-based compensation (MBC) Statement for each employee, which will be available through Sept. 30.

To access a statement:

•  Log in to myWSU (Chrome is the preferred browser).
•  Select the Faculty/Staff tab.
• Scroll down the page to the “Human Resources Links” Channel box.
• Select Market Based Compensation Statement.

The Office of Human Resources will close at 1:30 p.m. on Friday Aug. 27 for a department meeting.

2022 fiscal and academic year annual appointment notices are available online and will not be printed and distributed to departments.

Please note that University Support Staff (USS) and Non-Benefit eligible employees (Students, Lecturers and Temporary employees) are not subject to the annual appointment notice process.

Therefore, unclassified professionals (UP) and faculty can view, electronically acknowledge, and print their 2022 Appointment Notice through MyWSU:

• MyWSU (Chrome is the preferred browser)
• Faculty/staff tab
• Human resources links
• Notice of appointment (you may need to clear the browser cache to see the link)

2022 appointment notices will be available to view, electronically acknowledge, print and revisit through Aug. 31.  Because of the sensitive nature of this data, always close the browser to protect privacy.

Please contact the Help Desk at 978-4357 for assistance with logging into MyWSU.

For questions with any of the information contained on your fiscal year 2022 appointment notice, please discuss with your supervisor and they may contact HR.ServiceCenter@wichita.edu if needed.

The cornerstone of the workforce Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan is the implementation of a compensation program that is transparent, market-based and administered in a consistent manner.  As part of the implementation, Human Resources has completed an external market review of all jobs at the university and has created an individualized Market-Based Compensation (MBC) Statement for each employee, which will be published on July 28 and available through Sept. 30. To access a statement:

• Log in to myWSU (Chrome is the preferred browser)
• Select the Faculty/Staff tab
• Scroll down the page to the “Human Resources Links” Channel box
• Select “Market Based Compensation Statement”

Due to differences in how the market data is presented, two versions of the statements have been created, one for teaching positions and one for non-teaching positions. Short Market-Based Compensation Video Tutorials have been developed to assist with interpreting the information on the MBC Statement.

NOTE:  Employees in the following status or division of the University will not receive a compensation statement: temporary position, lecturer or visiting professor, student employee, coaches and employees in the Division of Industry Defense Programs.

Important things to know about the statement:

• For non-teaching positions, the Job Code and Job Title come from the Job Description the employee’s position has been mapped to in the Job Catalog (Job Description Manager).
• For non-teaching positions, if a Working Title was requested prior to the May 14 deadline and approved, it will be noted on the statement. Otherwise, the Working Title field will contain the Job Title from the Job Description.  Requests received after May 14 will be reviewed in August, and if approved, updated at that time.
• There are a few non-teaching positions in which the Non-Exempt/Exempt classification review was not complete at the time the statements were produced.  If the employee’s statement indicates “Under Review” in the Non-exempt/Exempt classification section, it simply means the review is still in process. You may have/may be contacted by the assigned HRBP for more information. When the review is complete, the supervisor and the employee will be notified if there is a change and the next steps that will occur.
• The base pay on the statement is the employee’s current base pay. There are no changes to employee base pay as a result of the external market review and the assigned pay range.
• All non-teaching jobs have been assigned a pay range based on independent, external market data and these statements will show the assigned pay range for each job. Teaching positions will show the market percentiles for the 25, 50 and 75. The statements are one element exhibiting the commitment by the university to develop a compensation program that is market-based, transparent and administered in a consistent manner.
• No employee will have their base pay reduced as a result of this transition, and those below the minimum of the assigned pay range will be given priority to bring them to the minimum, or close the gap to the minimum, of the assigned range when funds are available for the purpose of base pay increases.
• No employee in a position with a base pay above the assigned pay range will have their base pay reduced to bring it within the assigned pay range.
• No funding is allocated for base pay increases for fiscal year 2022.
• It is important for employees to remember that the statement only shows the base pay component of their total compensation from the university.  An employee may view an individualized Total Compensation Statement by accessing myWSU and selecting “Total Compensation Statement” to see other valuable indirect compensation provided by the University.

In the coming months, Human Resources will conduct a full base pay analysis to include:

• Partnering with university leaders to gather input on each current employee’s experience and skills. This, paired with the external market information will be used to prioritize future pay increases when funding is available for that purpose.
• Developing a multi-year strategy to prioritize future base pay increases to address any gaps identified in the analysis, as funding becomes available for this purpose.
• Establishing the annual pay cycle which starts at the beginning of each calendar year and includes updating market data, conducting base pay analysis in advance of the budget cycle and making base pay increases effective at the start of each fiscal year if funding is allocated for that purpose.

Utilizing the Compensation Administration Guidelines by leaders throughout the year will aid in creating consistency in the administration of base pay decisions. These Guidelines are published at www.wichita.edu/marketbasedcompensation.

If you have any additional questions after reviewing the statements and tutorial video, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your supervisor or the HR Business Partner assigned to your area. You can also find helpful material related to the Market Based-Compensation Program located on the Human Resources website. You can also look up nd Compensation Administration Guidelines on the Market-Based Compensation Program website. Thank you for your assistance in supporting this university strategic initiative and a cornerstone of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion workforce plan.

Per the designated holidays schedule released by Gov. Laura Kelly’s office on August 28, 2020, Wichita State University will close July 5 in observance of Independence Day. 

Requests for working title submissions
Requests for 146 working titles were submitted by the May 14 deadline and have been reviewed.  Of the 146 requests, 125 were supported by HR, a few with minor edits for titling consistency or to provide more clarity. The remaining 21 requests will be sent to the divisional officer for review as they fell outside the guidelines established for a working title. Any requests for a working title submitted after the deadline will be processed when the systems transitions are complete in August.  

Status of updates to job descriptions in the new job catalog

Spreadsheets were sent to supervisors on April 27-28 with a list of all those they supervise. The spreadsheet contained the job description each employee’s job is mapped to in the new job catalog.  Supervisors were asked to share this information with each employee individually and encouraged to do so within two weeks. This information will be utilized for the individual market-based compensation statements and will be sent to supervisors the third week of June. As of May 28, we will pause on making updates to the job catalog until system transitions are complete in August.

Here are a couple of questions raised during the faculty and staff Town Hall hosted by President Rick Muma and Interim Provost Shirley Lefever on May 13. Please visit the Human Resources website to view additional material related to the Market Based-Compensation Program.

Q:  When will the university transition to market-based compensation be complete?

A:  The university will complete the transition to market-based compensation in July 2021. The completion will align the University with the annual pay cycle and in fall 2021 HR will conduct a full base pay analysis to include:

• Partnering with University leaders to gather feedback on each current employee’s experience, education, and skills and determine appropriate placement within the assigned pay range (pay range assignments not applicable to teaching positions). When complete for each employee, this will allow us to review internal base pay equity.
• Assessing how competitive our base pay is in relation to the external market.
• Developing a multi-year strategy to prioritize future base pay increases to begin to close any gaps identified in the analysis, as funding becomes available for this purpose.
• Establishing the annual pay cycle which starts at the beginning of each calendar year and includes updating market data, conducting a base pay analysis in advance of the budget cycle, and making base pay increases effective at the start of each Fiscal Year if funding is allocated for that purpose. No funding is allocated for pay increases for FY2022.
• Utilizing the Compensation Administration Guidelines by leaders throughout the year to aid in creating consistency in the administration of base pay decisions.

Q:  Will there be base pay increases in FY22?

A:  Unfortunately, there were no financial resources allocated for base pay increases in FY22.

Q:  Will departments that have financial resources be allowed to fund base pay increases?

A:  The university will align to the annual pay cycle, use the results of base pay analysis to determine future base pay increases, and move forward in a unified approach. Base pay increases at the department level and not in accordance with the methodology established by the university will not be allowed.

The Office of Human Resources will close at noon May 21 for a departmental meeting.

For questions, contact HR Service Center at HR .ServiceCenter@wichita.edu or 316- 978-3065