December 2022
As we have discussed with the campus for many years, the HR Office is benchmarking staff salaries against nationwide data generated by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA). Beginning as survey research on administrators’ salaries many years ago, the data has expanded over time to include faculty, professional staff, and now also to comprehensively assess non-exempt staff compensation at all levels. More than one thousand colleges and universities participate in the surveys, yielding salary data as to about 50,000 administrators in more than 200 position levels; more than 250,000 professionals in more than 400 position levels; and more than 750 schools reporting on nearly 200,000 non-exempt staff in more than 150 position levels, from across the country.
The survey results are sorted and categorized as median salaries among cohorts of institutions. Shepherd’s analysis compares our staff salaries to appropriate comparative characteristics. For Administrators, this consists of: Public Institutions; Master’s level Institutions; Operating Expenses $51.3 to 107.7 million; Enrollment of 1661 to 3246; Public Institutions Enrollment 2523 to 6393; Public Institutions Total Expenses of Below $58.9 million; and Masters Institutions Total Expenses of Below $59.8 million. For Professional and Non-Exempt Staff, the comparable enrollment and expense quartiles are utilized. An average of the median salary data from each of the seven cohort-categories, adjusted for inflation factors as appropriate, is calculated and compared to the Shepherd incumbent’s salary. To adapt the positions at Shepherd to the summary job descriptions used by CUPA for each listed position title, many Shepherd positions are analyzed by averaging two or three CUPA positions, to try to maximize the effectiveness of the comparisons.
Shepherd is now factoring the CUPA Median, on the basis of institutional seniority. We are not creating a “salary seniority chart” for all employees, but rather using this seniority factor as a Salary Equity reference point, with a presumption that this identifies a minimum CUPA Target salary for equity purposes. This factoring presumes a new employee has a ‘target’ at 80% of the CUPA median, and that ten years of seniority reaches a target of 100% of the CUPA median. Twenty years of seniority produces a target equity result of 110% of the CUPA median, etc.
Hiring and employment decisions for different positions yield varying results of salaries being set below or above these ‘equity benchmarks.’ But this CUPA Target model expands our ability to apply an objective formula to evaluating a minimum benchmark towards equity of staff salaries.
The total additional funds earmarked for Salary Equity Enhancements effective in January 2023 is $100,000, and the additive benefits associated with salary increases (retirement and social security matching) is included in that budget commitment, allowing for aggregate increases of Eighty Seven Thousand Dollars.
In calculating the prospective increases, several parameters are applied to allow the broadening of the number of people experiencing compensation improvement:
- No staff member is receiving more than $3,000 in this January 2023 Equity Adjustment;
- For staff whose base salary is larger now than it was in July 2021, whether due to promotion or any other factor, that increase is applied against the $3,000 January 2023 maximum increase. If the staff member’s salary increased by more than $3,000, then there is no remaining eligibility for the January 2023 adjustments.
- Staff who are at or above 85.8% of their target will not receive an equity salary adjustment at this time.
Within those parameters, the available funds move 45 staff to, or upward toward, 85.8% of the CUPA Target for their position.
Colleges complete the CUPA surveys late in each year, and the survey data results are distributed to the HR Office late in spring of each year, and a new CUPA Median is calculated for each staff position. As incumbent staff gain seniority each year, the CUPA Target will also increase due to that seniority factor.