By SUSAN JONES
The second phase of the compensation modernization project is finally live with the release of a new job catalog and corresponding pay ranges, but some Pitt staff employees may still be confused about what this means for them.
WHAT’S YOUR REACTION?
Now that the long-awaited Pitt job catalog and new pay ranges have been unveiled, the University Times wants to know what Pitt employees think about it. How do the job descriptions and pay align with what you currently have? What issues or surprises have you encountered? Email your thoughts to suejones@pitt.edu for a future story.
In a nutshell, the new job catalog places each position into one of 18 job families, which are responsible for similar types of work. You can find a list of these job families on the HR SharePoint site.
Each job was then assigned one of 15 pay grades, with a range from minimum to median to maximum. Pitt’s new salary structure has more pay ranges, but they are narrower from minimum to maximum pay. Each job was assigned to a pay range based on benchmark data.
Current employees need to jump through a few hoops to find their positions in the job catalog and then find the corresponding pay range. (All of these steps require a Pitt Passport sign-on.)
Here are the steps:
1. Find your job title in Pitt Worx under Employment Info. For instance, under job, it might read: Staff.Editor I or Staff.Editor II
2. Go to the Job Catalog and search for your title, in this case Editor I or Editor II. This will give you details about hiring requirements and job responsibilities. Here, you also will find the job’s pay grade. For Editor I, it’s pay grade 2; for Editor 2, it’s pay grade 5.
3. Then go to the Compensation Modernization Pay Ranges chart to find the corresponding grade. For instance, pay grade 2 has a minimum salary of $34,588 and a maximum of $51,882.
The midpoint of a pay range represents full market pay, according to information on the Human Resources compensation FAQ. The ratio of the employee's actual salary to that midpoint indicates whether the employee is paid below, at, or above market rates. This ratio is calculated by taking the employee’s salary and dividing it by the midpoint of their job’s assigned grade. A ratio of 1.0 would indicate that an employee is being paid the market rate for the duties they are performing.
Where employees fall on that pay range comparison is likely to fuel discussions about pay raises. No employee will experience a deduction in pay in the new staff job compensation structure. Any adjustments to pay will coincide with the annual salary increase cycle.
James Gallaher, vice chancellor for human resources, said this year Pitt is “focusing really … on those that are our most vulnerable and trying to get them to a better place.” This includes anyone who is making below $16.50 an hour or approximately $32,175 per year for full-time employees working 37.5 hours a week. The Pitt budget that the Board of Trustees approved for 2023-24 will set $16.50 as the minimum wage for all University employees. The salary pool also includes 3 percent raises for those who meet performance standards.
Gallaher reiterated that this is a three to-five-year project, and “in years out, we'll look to address those (other salary inequities).” But he noted that the 1 percent merit, market and equity salary pool approved by the trustees gives responsibility centers (RCs) “a little window this year to make some of those adjustments, but we know that it's going to take time to really right-size the whole pay structure. You just can't do all that in one year, not and be fiscally responsible.”
Employees who find mistakes in their job descriptions or duties should first talk to their supervisor, who can work with their department administrators to fix the issue. “If the compensation team needs to get involved, they'll also get involved in terms of helping to assess it,” Gallaher said, “but we're trying to keep that at the RC level because the RCs really did do the math. They were the ones that aligned the individuals with the jobs.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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