At the direction of UA President Jim Johnsen, UA Human Resources is reviewing the university’s compensation including benefits for staff, faculty and executives. Initial findings were shared with the Board of Regents at its September meeting, but additional analysis needs to be done before final recommendations are made. The study is being conducted by an internal working group of compensation experts, an advisory committee made up of faculty, staff, and executives, and three outside consultants, Lockton, Quatt & Associates, and Gallagher, under the lead of Chief Human Resources Officer Keli McGee. �

The intent of the study is to bring equity in pay and benefits to the university’s staff, faculty and executives. The university’s pay and benefits structure has not been reviewed for some time, and there have been several years of no pay increases due to budget constraints. This analysis was undertaken to update and establish a consistent compensation structure that will make the university into a more competitive in its recruitment and retention efforts. To learn more about the study and its impacts, including initial market survey results, methodology and project FAQs, go to the compensation website: http://alaska.edu/classification/compensation-review/. Discussions and open forums will be scheduled in the coming months.

There are five parts to the review. First, comparing faculty, staff and executive salaries respectively to market medians to determine the competitiveness of salaries for each employee group. Second, comparing university benefits to peer groups including the State of Alaska. Third, performing a pay equity study, for faculty, staff and executives, to review the effect of gender, age, ethnicity, rank, years of service and job value on pay differentials in the system.

The study is being guided by the following core principles:

• As a mission-focused institution, the university’s emphasis as an employer is on recruiting, retaining and developing people who embrace the mission of the university.
• Compensation systems must support this mission and should not be a deterrent or distraction to employees.
• The compensation system will uphold the university’s role in the state as a leading employer. In its duty as an employer, the university will strive to be:
  • Competitive: Offering market-driven salary and benefits programs
  • Consistent: Providing a dependable framework for compensating employees in a fair and equitable manner
  • Creative: Within the confines of its budget, the university will offer a flexible and inspired suite of benefits to employees
  • Collaborative: Working with our employees to ensure our programs meet their needs and interests

The September presentation showed that for faculty and executives, 80 percent of the staff analysis has been completed, as is a peer analysis of benefits. A review of compensation data for the pay equity study is underway. A regression analysis of compensation data is ongoing and initial drafts are anticipated to be reviewed by senior leadership by the end of December.

As the work moves forward, a standard set of compensation guidelines will be established to pay all employees within the range associated with their position’s salary so that no one is paid below the range minimum or above the range maximum. However, no individual’s salary will be reduced if they currently are paid above the assigned salary range for their position.

Additional updates, including new FAQs will be added to the site as the project continues.