UW-Madison and the UW System are working jointly to overhaul how their staff are classified and paid.
New York based consulting group Mercer has been brought in to oversee the project, and UW Madison Human Resources director Mark Walters says that will help clarify just how employees should be paid and what duties they need to perform. “We really need that modern title and compensation structure, and Mercer has the technical expertise and the knowledge to go in that direction.”
“This is a critical initiative for our campus,” says Sharon Gehl, associate administrator for the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health. “We have many titles that are not appropriate for the associated responsibilities, lack consistency of standard duties, and/or do not have similar minimum qualification requirements. There is too much variation.”
Walters says 30 years of hiring has fractured how the system works, and they want to make sure that staff and employees are being paid the right amount of money in an increasingly competitive job market.
“This is to create these new structures, to make sure that we know where we are in the labor market, and to make appropriate choices in regard to how manage our compensation.”
The project is expected to take another 12 months.