SALARY EQUITY INCREASE GUIDELINES FOR UCSF STAFF POSITIONS
Salary increases, outside of the annual merit process occur as the result of promotion, upward reclassification or approval of a salary equity increase. A request for salary equity review is initiated by an employee’s home department through that department’s internal human resources authorization process. Requests for salary equity review are submitted to the Human Resources Department where a process of comparative analysis leads to a conclusion that is communicated by the assigned Staffing and Compensation Analyst.
The process of comparative analysis conducted by the Human Resources Department begins with an examination of rationale provided by the requesting department. Rationale considered appropriate include:
- Provision of a more appropriate relationship between the salaries of employees performing work at the same level with similar levels of experience, background and performance. Departments should explore the following questions:
- Are there newly hired employees who are earning significantly more than existing staff with similar employment backgrounds?
- Are there employees performing similar work with higher performance and greater years of related experience than employees with lower levels of performance and experience?
- Are there employees who hold positions of greater scope and complexity within a classification level who are paid less than employees holding less complex jobs within that same classification level?
- Provision of a more appropriate relationship between the salaries of existing employees and salaries offered by competitors in a compelling labor market. Departments should explore the following questions:
- Is there reliable competitive market data that suggests a significant gap between the pay of UCSF employees and competitors pay for the same, or substantively similar work?
- Are there recruitment and retention difficulties that are linked to employee’s ability to earn higher base pay in the competitive market?
- Recognition of significant growth in a job that impacts scope and complexity but does not elevate the job to a higher classification level. Departments should explore the following questions:
- Have there been substantive changes in a job that increase the scope, impact and complexity of the job but not to the extent that they suggest a higher classification level?
- Responding to theneed to retain an employee with unique and specialized skills in the face of a documented competitive salary offer for a similar position. Departments should explore the following questions:
- Are you challenged by the need to retain an employee with specialized and difficult to replace skills and experience in the face of a bona fide competitive job offer for substantively similar work?
The Staffing and Compensation Analyst partners with the requesting department to develop the following information, as appropriate, to determine support of the rationale:
- The names, years of University service, years of related service outside of the University, years in title, related educational level, relative performance information, sex and ethnicity, and any relevant personal attributes, special qualifications or unique skills of employees, within the unit or department, who occupy comparable titles and perform comparable work.
- Appropriate salary comparisons at UC campuses, where relevant.
- Any relevant and available market data for comparable work performed at competitive institutions.
- The average UCSF salary for employees in comparable titles (used as a basis of information but not as influential as other factors.)
The Staffing and Compensation Analyst conducts an analysis to determine if the available information supports the rationale for the provision of an equity increase.
- A finding that the information supports the rationale results in approval of the request.
- A finding that the data does not support the rationale leads to a discussion with the requesting department to confirm an understanding of all relevant issues. If there remains no support for the rationale, non-support of the request is communicated to the department by the Staffing and Compensation Analyst.
Tips to remember when considering issues of salary equity:
- Achieving salary equity does not mean that each employee performing the same or similar work should be paid identically. Consideration should be given to varying levels of performance and related experience.
- Positions with the highest levels of market lag are not always those that should receive priority for the application of limited salary equity funding. Salary decisions should provide support to your business goals and objectives and if there are positions with significant recruitment and retention issues and a short supply of appropriately skilled labor force, it may be appropriate to provide higher salary equity priority to those positions over jobs with a larger market lag.
- There is limited funding available for salary equity increases and it may require a multi-year approach to achieve all of your goals with respect to internal and market equity.