Does Your School Really Know What You Do?: Classification and Compensation of Campus NMC Staff David Herrington, Princeton University Andrew Bonamici, University of Oregon

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Outline Overview of job categories and classification systems Multimedia positions in the campus context Tips for working with your Human Resources office Using administrative processes to educate campus leaders and market multimedia services

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Overview of job categories and classification systems Classification system: Used to organize and define different types of work when organizations have large numbers of diverse jobs. A "matrix of relative value" used as a basis for establishing and maintaining pay rates Classification specification: generic document that describes the level of work to be performed and not the specific content of any given job. Position: a single job defined by a written position description in which the unique assigned duties are clearly delineated.

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Overview of job categories and classification systems (continued) Analysis of a position for allocation to a class: based on the preponderance of assigned duties “Incumbent neutral;” e.g. based on the role and function of the position within the department rather than the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the current incumbent Relies on "benchmark" jobs, comparable positions, and precedent, in addition to classification specifications Source:

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Example: Oregon University System: Broad categories: Officers of Instruction (Teaching/Research Faculty: Tenured & tenure-track faculty with academic rank Officers of Administration (Administrative Faculty) with academic rank: includes librarians and some media professionals with positions requiring graduate degrees without rank: includes supervisors, managers, and some media professionals with positions that do not require graduate degrees Union-represented support staff Union-represented Graduate Teaching Fellows Student assistants

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Example: Oregon University System (continued) Formal classification system for union-represented support staff includes over 300 classes. Examples relevant to media & multimedia field include:  Information Technology Consultant  Graphic Artist 1 – 3  Videographer 1-2

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Multimedia positions in the campus context Range of positions will vary by broad category as well as formal classification. Examples (UO):  Senior leaders: faculty or administrative employees with appointments comparable to department heads or program directors. First NMC director at the UO also served as a Tenured Professor of Fine Arts Current Director is a major department head in the Library.  Project Managers reporting to the Director: recruited as managerial staff due to supervisory responsibilities  Non-supervisory: production staff, administrative assistants are recruited as classified staff represented by bargaining unit

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Tips for working with your campus Human Resources office Educate the HR staff: NMC programs are relatively new, and the technologies and activities changing rapidly Campus HR professionals have broad knowledge of many fields and are “quick studies” in learning about new ones HR staff do not have a practitioner’s deep understanding of specific technologies and processes involved in multimedia development Provide adequate detail in draft position descriptions Provide a tour and demonstration! A Story:

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Tips for working with your campus Human Resources office (continued) Help identify relevant comparator positions. What other campus units employ staff with campus with multimedia duties? Examples: graphic artists webmasters instructional designers instructional media specialists courseware support staff

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Tips for working with your campus Human Resources office (continued) Places to look for comparators:  schools, colleges, academic departments  instructional media centers  computing centers  libraries  teaching effectiveness & instructional development programs  administrative units such as campus publications or PR/Marketing

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Tips for working with your campus Human Resources office (continued) Understand the HR Officer’s perspective regarding the external job market.  In order to maintain a consistent and equitable campuswide employment system, HR needs to base classification decisions on internal comparators  Due to entrenched low salaries in the educational sector, this can create challenging recruitment problems  This problem is not unique to multimedia groups but is shared by libraries, IT units, and a number of academic disciplines  If low salaries are creating severe recruitment problems, document them  Comparative data from higher education is crucial (for example, David’s NMC salary survey)

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Tips for working with your campus Human Resources office (continued)  Raise staffing issues as an agenda item in campuswide educational technology committees and other relevant interest groups. Invite HR staff to these sessions.  Stay in touch with HR staff regarding collective bargaining schedules, re-writes of classification series, etc. Offer to review class specs.

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Using administrative processes to educate campus leaders and market multimedia services  Use campus listservs to raise questions and solicit involvement of other media, technology, and information professionals on campus  Administrative processes provide opportunities to describe current projects and activities to campus leaders and administrators - this can allow for some subtle marketing.  Become familiar with efforts of national organizations such as EDUCAUSE and ARL to raise awareness of salary issues and recruitment/retention challenges in higher education

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Wrap-Up Ask campus HR staff for an overview of your institution’s classification system Learn as much as possible about the job categories and classifications most relevant to NMC services and related activities Be sensitive to campus context when designing positions and establishing salaries. Administrative processes can create opportunities to inform campus leaders about NMC services -- take advantage of them. Collaborate with other media, technology, and information professionals to identify and resolve shared concerns about classification, compensation, recruitment, and retention

May 31, 2001NMC2001.ppt Contact Information Andrew R. Bonamici Associate University Librarian for Administrative Services 115D Knight Library, University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon USA voice (541) fax (541) Slideshow URL: