Agenda

HR Payroll Calendar Adjustment: Next Steps	Ellen Usilton
New Middlebury Compensation System: Plans for Year Two	Jeff Dayton-Johnson

HR Payroll Consolidation (Ellen Usilton)

• Thank you for your feedback at the previous meeting. Due to a number of factors, we were unable to shift the implementation date from April.
• Timeline:

Payroll	Pay period (pay for work in this date range)	Pay Date	Pay for:
Last Regular CA	March 27 – April 9	April 14	2 weeks
Transition	April 10 – April 16	April 21	1 week
First Combined	April 17 – April 30	May 5	2 weeks

• The good news is that the transition week will be based on Oracle entries, and we will not have to reconcile after the pay period. We will be paying for actual hours worked.
• The only things that are coming out of the transitional check will be taxes, retirement (core/voluntary), and Panther plan premiums (since our other medical premiums and voluntary deductions are based on a 26 times/year cycle).
• Discussion:
  • It would be helpful to have clear and targeted communication for students. There has been some misinformation circulating.
  • There will be an SAT Meet-up for all faculty and staff (formal communication forthcoming) on Tuesday, March 28, 12:00-12:50pm PT with the option to join in-person or via Zoom.

Staff Compensation System (Jeff Dayton-Johnson)

• This presentation is specifically regarding the new staff compensation system, and we acknowledge that the faculty compensation system is an urgent, important, and upcoming body of work. 
• This is intended to be a waterfall type of information sharing. Each member of the SLG is sharing this information with their direct reports, and it is intended that each of you will share this information with your teams as well. We think it is important for managers to take ownership of this messaging and collect questions.
• You may also receive this presentation from your managers and directors in Vermont if you are part of an anchor function. This is a complicated new system, and going over this more than once, and having more opportunities to ask questions, is important at an early stage. Those of you in Leadership Alliance have heard versions of this as well. 
• Timeline:
  • Gather
    • February-March
    • SLG led, waterfall conversations to reach all staff and gather input from every level of supervisor
    • Focused on framing approach/expectations to build shared understanding
  • Review
    • Mid-April
    • All data available with market increases already applied
    • Apply movement in skill matrix for those that have reached significant career progression
  • Check
    • April-May
    • Ensue accuracy and consistency within and across divisions and each decision is explainable
    • Expect to have approx 10% of staff shift career progression on skill matrix
  • Share
    • June
    • Final decisions complete
    • Direct conversations with all staff using waterfall approach
• Overview:
  • Role:
    • Role mapped to market and min/max range established
    • Agnostic to individual
  • Individual
    • Skill matrix based on ownership and impact drives whether individual falls into range
  • Discretion
    • Final layer of discretion based on VP/Manager functional expertise
    • Guardrails in place
• Skill Matrix Philosophy
  • The skill matrix is a tool to place individuals into the range based on career progressions – and, specifically, their level and ownership and impact
  • Elevates a culture of high performance and ability to focus compensation conversations on skills and competencies – questions on how to increase pay can tie back to results and are transparent
  • Calibration across the institution on skill matrix – goal is to move people to “thriving” and have that be at midpoint of grade range
  • Each year, the market is reviewed, and ranges may be adjusted -and skill matrix will consistently be tied to percentage into range. This will result in market increases for all staff in the ranges each time there is a market adjustment.
• Skill Matrix: Ownership & Impact
  • Progresses from Learning in the role (minimum) > Growing in the role (25%) > Thriving in the role (50%) > Leading in the role (75%) 
  • These percentages refer to the position in the range (rate of pay within the range)
  • Leading is currently at the 60th percentile, and we are continuing to gather resources to make ground towards the 75% target.
• Ask the following question of yourself and your leaders/supervisors:
  • Who on your team has achieved significant career progression in the past year in terms of ownership and impact?
  • This is the list of people who will shift up a level in the skill matrix. All others will remain in the same place (but remember they will still be eligible for a raise through Step 1: ROLE (based on market) and Step 3: DISCRETION).
• Skill Matrix Progression:
  • Our expectations is that roughly 10% of staff will shift in career progression and therefore skill matrix placement each year.
  • This will be tracked/monitored when SLG members/designees completed skill matrix placement in Axiom leading up to final decisions – and this will be reviewed institutionally by SLG and HR.
  • No department or area will be able to be a significant outlier
  • This is not intended to calibrate or hold people back in a pre-defined way, but rather is a realistic and necessary target to name and check ourselves to ensure consistency within and across divisions and not over inflate movement in a way that risks the overall approach.
• The skill matrix is a longer term and more steady progression, especially compared to the annual performance review

	Annual Performance	New Approach: Skill Matrix
Time Frame	Looks back one year	Reflects the entire arc of your career cumulatively
Variability from year to year	Can move in either direction (up or down from year to year)	Only moves forward as career progresses
Impact on pay	Only source of increases. Small annual incremental changes based on the annual budget pool.	One of three possible increases (others being market and discretion). Large increase (10-25% in range representing movement within

• FAQs (full list covered in slide deck)
  • How do we recognize people in terms of their contribution, especially unusual contributions during the year, if we are not allowed to give a pay increase?
    • There are monetary and non-monetary forms of rewards and recognition, and there are a lot of ways we can reward and celebrate the contributions of our team. For example, this now includes taking your team to breakfast at 831 Catering.
• Summary
  • There are various options for increases to compensation in FY24, depending on specific situation of the market, skill matrix placement and discretion
  • Zooming out of the example:
    • Each year, we plan to update the overall ranges based on the market and anticipate shifting at an overall, aggregate level—which will mean that if the labor market increase 5% in a given year, the ranges would shift up 5%
    • This will cascade to all and be applied to the adjusted rate at the ROLE step
    • Then, on top of this, individuals will be eligible for adjustment in skill matrix placement and/or discretion up to the maximum of the range
    • Promotions or new roles will result in moving through the process from the start
• Pathways to increase individual compensation
  • Stay in role
    • Continue to deliver as outlined
    • No significant movement in ownership or impact
    • → No change to placement, market adjustment if applicable
  • Build skills in role
    • Within role, increase level of ownership and impact
    • → Move within skills matrix, move up in range
  • Expand scope/role
    • Scope and/or role has changed from existing role
    • Promotion to new role requires budget approve
    • → New role requires new benchmark and skill matrix assessment
  • Move to new role
    • Move within department or across institution to a new role
    • → New role requires new benchmark and skill matrix assessment
• Discussion:
  • Does the ongoing market analysis include a look at the 15% differential between Vermont and California?
    • Yes we will validate the differential as well
  • There are multiple sources of market information, but a single market definition. We participate in a college & university survey and broad national survey, and specifically gather data that matches the criteria for our organization.
  • It would be helpful to create more opportunities for people to become more literate/fluent in this work. There is a lot of information here and it takes multiple touchpoints to build understanding.
  • Are managers able to partner with their HRBP on this waterfall communication?
    • Yes, HRBPs can be available to partner on this communication.