Ithaca College

Submitted on behalf of Brian Dickens, Vice President for Human Resources

As a follow-up to the previous Intercom announcement on February 10, 2017, I am pleased to share that Ithaca College is beginning work on a revised staff compensation program (non-faculty positions). The development of this program is one of the College’s top priorities. Our ability to recruit and retain professional talent requires a competitive and equitable compensation program that reflects our culture and work environment.  This program will also meet the mission and goals of the College and should be externally competitive, internally equitable, regularly updated, easily understood, and financially responsible.

The College engaged Sibson Consulting (a Human Resources consulting firm that is nationally recognized in Higher Education) to assist with this project.  They will be working with us to reassess and update our compensation program in order to ensure a firm understanding of our competitive position. The Project Team, with assistance from Sibson Consulting, will develop a compensation philosophy; analyze staff position roles, responsibilities, and requirements; determine market competitiveness; and assess internal equity of salaries. Our work will lead to the development of a salary structure with pay practices that will assist the College in creating an improved process for managing salaries for staff.  The scope of this project also includes a high-level review of health benefits, retirement, leaves and other pay-related policies.

This initiative started in early March and is expected to run through late fall/early winter 2017. To launch the project, members of the Sibson consulting team will be on campus on March 30th and 31st to conduct group conversations to understand current perspectives around the compensation program and desired future changes.  Meetings comprised of representative groups of employees have been scheduled.  Given this is an important part of the data gathering and philosophy development phases of the project, additional meetings will be scheduled and all staff will have the opportunity to participate in an online survey.  The results of the discussions and survey will be used to develop a comprehensive compensation philosophy and the framework for ongoing salary administration.

The College will keep you informed of our progress through regular updates. We are excited to begin this project and appreciate your support as we embark on this important initiative. Please feel free to contact Cindy Reckdenwald at (4-3850) or Maura Fetsko at (4-3483) if we can provide any additional information or answer any questions.