Staff raises finally pass

A long-awaited salary increase was finally passed down at the end of last month, adding a few dollars to some staff members’ wallets.

Several years ago under former president Rosemary DePaolo, a study was commissioned to compare Georgia College & State University’s compensation rates to those paid by its competitors. The study showed that a significant number of GC&SU employees were being paid under the market minimum.

After a lengthy delay and the selection of a new president, the topic was revisited.

“When I came here, a study had been done, but it was about a year old,” Leland said. “No one had seen the results of the study, so one of the first things I was asked by staff when I got here was about the study.”

Several months later when the results of the updated survey arrived, Leland said it was clear that GC&SU’s compensation didn’t hold up against the competition.

“We had approximately a $1.5 million market salary problem. Sixty-eight percent of our exempt and non-exempt employees were paid below the market minimum,” Leland said. “The market minimum is really the minimum compensation paid by our competitors for the talents of our employees who have a certain set of skills.”

Leland said the problem emerged partially because the minimum salaries for a number of positions at the university had not been upgraded for years. Even after the first study was completed, the much-needed extra funds were not available.

“In at least the last four years when you’ve gotten budget cuts, it can appear that there is no way you can solve the problem. Luckily, I come from a background of knowing budgets very well and I was able to identify a strategy for solving the problem,” Leland said.

That strategy was to reallocate money the university received for merit increases on unfilled positions or persons not eligible for merit raises into a special market Salary Adjustment Fund. Eligible staff members will receive 30 percent of the total dollars needed to reach market minimum for the next three years.

“It’s going to take longer than I’d like,” Leland said, “but three years is better than not addressing the problem at all.”

Bill Bloodworth, buyer and office supply coordinator for GC&SU, was one of the staff members who received the raise.

“I was pleased with the raise. I was pleased that the initiative was taken. I thought, ‘Wow, they did something with it,’ because I actually forgot about the study. It initiated under Dr. DePaolo and it got to a point when they said it wasn’t going anywhere because there wasn’t enough money,” Bloodworth said, “I thought it would happen eventually, but I was surprised it happened so quickly.”

In their minutes, the University Staff Council thanked Dr. Leland for her dedication to the issue.

“We are so appreciative to President Leland for all her efforts on our behalf to address the salary equity issues, and we sincerely thank her for making this happen,” the minutes said.

Leland said the faculty who will not receive a market minimum raise, were also supportive of the new raise.

Faculty were very supportive. I took it to the University Senate Budget and Planning Committee, who are not only faculty, but it’s mostly faculty, and they endorsed it unanimously. Even though it means they have to wait longer to have their own salaries adjusted,” Leland said. “It’s one of the wonderful things about being here. We have generous faculty.”

The plan for adjustment also includes a process for adjusting compensation on underpaid positions that are currently unfilled.

Leland said the adjustments will help retain staff who are currently employed.

“We’ve got very talented people here; this institution became one of the best in the state because of the people who work here. So if we can’t at least pay them at market minimum, we’re not going to keep them.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 15 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry