Faculty and Staff - August 18, 2020

Dear Colleagues:

The past several months have been a difficult time for our country and our campus community. As we near the beginning of the fall semester and a safe return to campus, we felt it was the right time to provide faculty and staff with an update about Winthrop University’s faculty and staff classification and pay study that was scheduled to be completed earlier this year. Communicating with you remains a top priority in our commitment to keep you informed about the status of this ongoing project.

While we had anticipated beginning implementation of the study results this summer, COVID-19 impacted those plans and the initiative was temporarily put on hold. We are currently in the process of finalizing details of the faculty and staff study with our consulting partners, Segal (formerly Sibson Consulting), in light of the impact of COVID-19 on our institution, both short- and long-term.

Unfortunately, given both financial and non-financial resource constraints and the unknown future environment, we will not be able to provide widespread pay adjustments at this time. This does not mean we will stop working to ensure our pay programs support our faculty and staff in a fair and competitive manner. Our commitment to the study has not wavered, but current conditions have required us to re-evaluate our implementation plans and adjust accordingly.

As you can see in the details below, we have implemented several elements of the new compensation structure. While progress may be slower than we would like, we are going to continue implementing the new pay programs, including administration guidelines to ensure consistent decision-making, and will make appropriate pay adjustments as resources allow.

What Is Currently In Use

Developed our pay philosophy, which is a formal statement that summarizes the University’s position about employee pay. It documents pay strategy essentially explaining the “why” behind faculty and staff pay, and creates a framework for consistent decisions around pay.
Finalized the lists of peer institutions (our “peer groups”) that are being used to evaluate and determine market-competitive pay rates for faculty and staff.

What’s Happening Next

Winthrop will continue working with Segal to finalize details of the faculty and staff pay programs.
Winthrop will pilot the use of the faculty and staff pay market data and pay administration guidelines for a variety of employment scenarios (i.e., new hires, transfers, promotions, etc.). This will allow us to evaluate and refine our new processes on a smaller scale prior to broader use.
We will update you on additional implementation plans once the programs are finalized.

Have Questions?

We encourage you to review the Frequently Asked Questions. If you have additional questions, please connect with:

Zan Jones, Human Resources, Employee Diversity, and Wellness

Project Team Lead

jonesz@winthrop.edu

Sincerely,
George

George W. Hynd
Interim President

Faculty and Staff - August 18, 2020

Developed our pay philosophy, which is a formal statement that summarizes the University’s position about employee pay. It documents pay strategy essentially explaining the “why” behind faculty and staff pay, and creates a framework for consistent decisions around pay.

Finalized the lists of peer institutions (our “peer groups”) that are being used to evaluate and determine market-competitive pay rates for faculty and staff.

Winthrop will continue working with Segal to finalize details of the faculty and staff pay programs.

Winthrop will pilot the use of the faculty and staff pay market data and pay administration guidelines for a variety of employment scenarios (i.e., new hires, transfers, promotions, etc.). This will allow us to evaluate and refine our new processes on a smaller scale prior to broader use.

We will update you on additional implementation plans once the programs are finalized.