Ithaca College

(The following message is being shared on behalf of Kirra Franzese, Interim Associate Vice President, Human Resources)

We are pleased to provide the campus community with an update regarding our work with Sibson Consulting in the design and development of a new staff compensation program and structure.  To date the design phase of the program has been completed, a new salary structure developed, and a job-leveling framework has been introduced to various leadership groups.

During the month of June, we shared with Staff Council, department leaders and supervisors details of the new program, the new salary structure, and the job leveling guidelines. These meetings provided an opportunity for valuable feedback and assisted us in finalizing the new program and structure.  The new program has been designed to address the concerns raised by many staff and supervisors that there are limited opportunities for growth and advancement in current positions and the salaries at the College are not competitive.  The new staff compensation program now includes defined job groups and levels that allow for growth and advancement within the job group structure as positions expand and new or additional work is defined.  In addition, our consultants collected market data from various external sources and have developed a market competitive salary structure. 

Throughout the month of September, we have been meeting with Vice Presidents and department directors to review Sibson Consulting’s evaluation and placement of positions in the new compensation structure and have asked them to validate the initial placements and to provide us with their assessment along with any recommendations for changes. Final recommendations for changes are to be submitted to our office by the end of this month. 

Fortunately, due to the good work that took place 18 months ago when we completed a FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) audit that resulted in salary changes of approximately $300,000 and equity adjustments of approximately $600,000, impacting 48% of our staff or 452 employees, Sibson Consulting was able to verify through their market assessment that Ithaca College is strategically positioned competitively within the market.  We were very pleased with this report from Sibson. Therefore, as a result of the assessment and the ongoing effort to finalize the work on market competitiveness of our salaries, market adjustments will only be needed on a limited basis.  We are also pleased to report that no salaries will be decreased as a result of the Sibson study.

Information sessions for the campus community will be scheduled by division to take place during the month of October.  This series of meetings will provide an opportunity for the staff to gain an understanding and learn about the new program. We will continue to work in partnership with college leadership and department directors to implement the new program this fall.    

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.