Author: Sara McIntyre

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

PeopleAdmin, our applicant tracking and position management system, will be undergoing configuration changes and testing to support our transition to market-based compensation July 12-16. During this time there will be adjustments to the normal hiring activity, and Human Resources and those on Search Teams will not have access to the system and will be unable to:

• View and disposition candidates
• Approve and post new jobs
• Initiate and approve hiring proposals

Candidates will still be able to apply to requisitions that were posted in advance of July 12, and candidates that have accepted offers will be able to continue and complete their onboarding.

In preparation for this system reconfiguration and to eliminate or mitigate any delay in the hiring process, please contact your talent consultant if you have a vacancy to fill after June 1. The consultant will assist you by identifying an appropriate job description in the job catalog.  They will then make sure you are apprised of any applicable dates that might impact your search and ensure you know everything required to have a complete submission.

If you need to know the talent consultant assigned to assist you, please email employment@wichita.edu.

Our goal is to minimize any delay the system reconfiguration and the transition to Market-Based Compensation could cause to all our end users, specifically our search teams and candidates. Below are some dates to follow to ensure no delays occur in the hiring process:

Posting a Position:

• June 18 – Last day to submit a completed Position Exception Review Form. This will allow the time necessary for the approval process.
• Approvals must be complete before July 6 in order to be posted by July 12.

 Search Waiver and Emergency hire:

• June 25 – Last day to submit completed Search Exception Request Form. This will allow the time necessary for the approval process.

Hiring Proposals:

• July 9 – Last day for all Hiring Proposals to be approved on offers that have been accepted. This will allow the time necessary to complete the hiring process prior to July 12.

Adhering to the above dates and ensuring submissions are complete will give the talent team the best ability to meet your needs.  Requests for hiring activity submitted after the above dates will resume activity when system functionality is restored July 17.

Here are a few of the questions trending since the campus-wide update on the University’s transition to market-based compensation. If you have questions or just want to learn more about the transition, visit the Human Resources website. The website has all University presentations, FAQ’s and tools for the program.

Q: Why does my job description no longer contain all the duties that I perform? 

A: Job descriptions should reflect the essential job functions and minimum requirements for the job but should not detail every task and how the task is completed.  An optional Position Responsibilities template has been developed for use by the leader and employee.  It can capture more detailed information about where or how duties are performed.

Q: If my job description is changing, will my tasks and duties change? 

A: The transition to uniform and consistent job descriptions will not change the tasks and duties that you currently perform.  An optional Position Responsibilities template has been developed for use by the leader and employee and is available on the HR Forms Index. It can capture more detailed information about where or how duties are performed. You are encouraged to discuss any questions about this with your direct supervisor.

Q: Will we be able to keep our current title or have to change our title? 

A:  Today there is a wide variation of titles used at the University. Through the establishment of the job architecture, the University has adopted a uniform and consistent construct of titles and for this reason, many titles will change. Today, the University uses position and directory titles, going forward, the job description title will be utilized. A process has been developed to allow the limited, approved use of working titles if the job description title does not provide sufficient clarity about the position, either internal or external to the University.

Q: What will happen if I don’t meet the minimum requirements for the job that my current job was mapped to in the job catalog?

A: In most situations, current employees will be grandfathered and will not be required to meet the minimum requirements. Current employees will be required to meet any minimum requirements based on a regulatory or compliance requirement. If a current employee has a position change in the future, the employee must meet the minimum requirements of the new job.

Q: I have heard that some titles and/or jobs that exist today are not in the job catalog, is this true? 

A: There are some job levels that exist today that will not exist in the job catalog as they are simply not needed for the administration of market-based compensation.  The more levels that exist, the harder it is to make a distinction in what the jobs do, and they can’t be matched to the market data.  In some situations, these may be deemed appropriate for working titles.

Q: If we won’t have funding for base pay increases, why do all this work?

A: Creating a compensation program with the elements we have included allows the administration of a compensation program in a consistent manner.  The market review study will allow us to prioritize base pay changes. We can be more strategic by creating multi-year plans to prioritize limited resources in order to administer our compensation program in a consistent manner.

Q: Why is the University moving to an “annual cycle” for base pay increases? 

A:  Moving to an annual cycle will create consistency as well as allow us to be much more strategic with the use of limited funds available for base pay changes.  It will ensure that we are applying a consistent methodology, so we are effectuating changes in those situations where it is most needed.  Doing it on an annual basis allows us to analyze and provide information to our budget colleagues well in advance of when base pay changes occur which is typically at the start of the new fiscal year.

Q: After the transition to the annual cycle, will there be any situations for base pay increases at other times of the year? 

A: We recognize there will be situations that require an employee’s base pay to be reviewed other than on the annual cycle.  These are referred to as “off-cycle.” These are exceptions that must be approved and occur infrequently.