January 28, 2003
To:
The University Community
From:
Very Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M
President
Subject:
Staff Compensation Study
In the last five years, I have often spoken of The Catholic University of America as a
“community” rather than merely an “institution”. I have done that deliberately because I believe
the people are our most important concern. Our ability to fulfill CUA’s mission and strategic
plan rests most significantly with the quality of the faculty and staff. By recruiting, hiring and
retaining outstanding employees, the University excels as a leader in Catholic higher education.
A fair compensation program for staff is an integral component in developing an exemplary
workforce. The “right” pay system is part of what attracts and retains the talent we need to
achieve our goals. To help ensure that CUA has the “right” system, I have launched an initiative
to establish a compensation system for staff. The goal of this project is to ensure that our pay
structure is fair and equitable by categorizing staff jobs based on pre-defined job elements. The
initiative will officially begin this month and we are targeted to conclude in May 2003.
Developing a staff compensation program requires us to: 1) form an institutional compensation
philosophy; 2) clarify the responsibilities, duties, knowledge, skills and abilities required of all
staff positions; 3) obtain input on the structure and content of positions from departmental
managers; 4) analyze external market data; and, 5) test alternative system models. To assist with
this project, the University has retained the services of Mercer Human Resources Consulting, a
recognized leader in the development of pay systems for higher education institutions.
While I am sure many of you will have questions about this initiative, I have attempted to answer
some of them below:
Why do we need a salary compensation program?
For some staff positions, we have not determined or clarified current job responsibilities
or expectations. There also has been a proliferation of job titles that in many cases do
not reflect the assigned duties. We call what appear to be similar jobs by different names
and different jobs by similar names. In addition, pay is not consistent across schools and
departments. A salary compensation program will help us provide equitable pay, thereby
retaining and attracting the kind of talent we need to achieve our goals.
Who will be affected by the salary compensation program?
All full-time and part-time staff positions, regardless of school or funding source, will be
included in the program. This new compensation system, however, will not affect
faculty since faculty salaries are established in a different manner.
What steps have been taken?
A project team has been established with carefully selected members to serve as a
representative sample of the entire community. This team will conduct a Town Meeting
at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, February 12th in Caldwell Auditorium to provide members
of the community with information regarding the project and to answer questions.
Additionally, smaller meetings will be conducted on campus (focus groups, department
meetings, etc.) to further communicate the project’s objectives and to begin collecting
data.
Throughout the project, communication materials will be distributed to ensure you fully
understand what this means to you. Additionally, the HR website will be continuously updated
with information about this initiative. Please be assured that the system will be internally fair,
externally competitive within CUA’s funding capabilities, and legally compliant. If you have
any questions about the project, feel free to contact Chuck Mann, Associate Vice President for
Business Services, or Barbara Coughlin, Director of Human Resources.
Thank you for your support of this important project.
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